


Broken

by happyaspie



Series: Peter Parker Omo Files [22]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Tower, Avengers are a Team, Broken Bones, But It's Quick and Can be Easily Skipped, Canon-Typical Violence, Captivity, Everything Turns Out Fine, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Helpless Peter Parker, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Peter Parker, Kidnapping, Major Character Injury, Omorashi, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker needs to Pee, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, SHIELD, SHIELD is Helping, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs To Pee, Violence, Vomiting, Wetting, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-10-21 06:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20689352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Omo-centric story with asolid plot.  (I know that's weird coming from me right)Anyway...Peter finds himself up against a foe that's beyond his skill level and he ends up in need of back up.  However, despite his admittance, he ends up injured far worse than he ever has been before. Thankfully Tony is willing to step in to help out.  However, the fight isn't over.  In fact, it seems to have just begun as the Avenger's set out to corner Peter's new nemesis.The investigation leads Tony and Peter into hiding but it doesn't do much good as the end up captured and left to fully rely on the remaining Avenger's and possibly SHIELD to save them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've gotten this far then I assume you've read the tags... no? Go read them, I'll wait.
> 
> ...
> 
> Okay, still here? Great! So the chapter lengths are sort of all over the place because I wrote this all in one and then was stuck trying to divide it in places that made sense... I don't normally do it that way but I wanted to be sure I had this all the way done before I began posting any of it. It was a tough write and took me quite a while. 
> 
> Oh! ...and someone asked me a while back to write an omo involving captivity (points if it was Tony). Well, it's in here. Not this chapter... but it's here.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

As Peter was finishing up his evening patrol he noticed a strange figure looming in the alley between two large buildings. That in its self wasn't troubling. People often hovered between buildings at night. Usually, they were drunk, lost or homeless and not of any threat to anyone. However, this figure grabbed his attention immediately because his eyes seemed to be glowing a bright yellow hue, almost like that of a cat. More so, he seemed to be watching his every move which for most people would be impossible. He was high up on the top of a building _and it was dark._

As he went down to investigate he noticed that the man was wearing what looked like a dark cloak and Peter suddenly wondered if the whole thing was some sort of costume. but the second he approached the large man he was already having to dodge hits. "Whoa, man. Calm down. I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. I just wanted to see if you were okay.", Peter said as he continued to duck and block the man's fists. However, the only answer he received was the man taking a vile out of his pocket and drinking it. After that, something changed. The man went from large to huge and suddenly possessed super strength and reflexes that could rival Peter's own. 

After going a few rounds with what Peter had now deemed as the Glowy-eyed Monster Man, it became clear that he was going to be unable to keep up. So he did what he did best. He ignored every bit of advice that Tony had ever given him about calling for backup and pushed himself to try harder only to end up being repeatedly knocked to the ground. Then an idea popped into his head and he was soon swinging high above the man's head with the intention of taking the high ground. Only he didn't expect the man to then leap onto the side of the building to climb up after him. "What are you?", Peter asked mostly to himself before scurrying out of the man's reach and begrudgingly calling for Tony's help. "Hey, Mr. Stark. If you're not busy, uh, could you, um, maybe come help me? I, I'm in a little over my head here.", he hesitantly admitted while trying to keep the majority of his attention on playing hide and seek with the devilish looking man.

By the time Tony got there, Peter was out of breath, out of options and running low on web fluid. "Thank God!", he called out the moment he had Iron Man connected to his comm system. "I can't, I can't keep going... He's kicking my ass and--", he breathlessly replied before being knocked off of his web and falling to the ground, with Tony screaming his name in his ear.

Having spent the entire seven minutes it took to fly to Peter's location getting the cliffs notes about what who this... thing... was from Karen, Tony was prepared for everything except that. Watching Peter fall to the ground, hitting it so hard that he could hear the sound of his body smacking against the cement was enough to make him nauseous. "FRIDAY? Get the kid's stats. Now!", he bellowed as he flew towards the boy's limp body, taking note that the man, thing that had caused the damage was looking nearby as if he were waiting for Tony to descend. 

"Mr. Parker's is currently unconscious and several broken bones have been detected. His vitals are outside of the normal range but would be considered life-sustaining.", the AI dutifully announced and that was enough for Tony to make the decision to call in _more back up _so that he could get Peter to medical. 

After confirmation that it wouldn't hurt him, Tony swooped in to quickly grab Peter's body and took off for the sky so that he could track the demon-like being until help arrived. The second Steve Rogers and his band of merry men hit the scene, Tony was out. "Thanks, guys. Let me know when you've got him. I really want to know what this deal is and why he was going after the kid.", he called out as he shot through the sky and into the medical bay of the Avenger's tower. 

Once inside he was met by none other than Dr. Cho who happened to be in town for a conference and Tony couldn't have been more grateful. Bruce was amazing, a great doctor and scientist but this was currently worried that this might be above his paygrade. Though Tony had no doubt that he would figure it out in a pinch. He just prayed that the AI was right and it was nothing more than a few broken bones.

It didn't take long for Peter to be diagnosed with, as FRIDAY had relayed, several broken bones including his right arm, four ribs, and his right leg along with a significant concussion. All of which were non-life-threatening especially given the kid had a kick-ass healing factor. In fact, once that was taken into account it seemed like he would be as good as new in no more than four weeks. However, for the first week or two of that, he was going to be basically bed-ridden. 

As Tony was contemplating how God awful it was going to be for Peter, the biggest ball of energy he'd ever met to be tied to a bed for over a week, he remembered that he needed to call the kid's aunt. Sighing, he pulled his phone out and dialed her number. "Hey, May. I've got the Spider-kid in medical here at the tower. He's fine... well, he's not completely fine but he's going to be fine...", Tony rambled before going into a better explanation of exactly what had transpired over the last hour or so. Including the fact that he had people still chasing after then instigator. He was actually rather surprised that May wasn't threatening to castrate him for not being able to prevent the disaster, to begin with. 

"I'm glad he's going to be okay but you're talking like he won't be able to get out of bed on his own for over a week.", May said with some amount of hesitation. "Tony, I can't take that many days off. It's only July and only have one vacation day left to get me through to the new year. I can take family leave but that's unpaid..." She felt guilty for sounding like she was more worried about the money that her nephew but the fact was, in the end, Peter would be fine. Her paycheck, on the other hand, couldn't handle another hit. Rent would be due soon and they needed a home. 

"May, you know he can stay here. I've got him. No big deal.", Tony said with ease. He knew he could just as easily offer to pay the rent for her but she would never accept it. Not in a million years. They had already been down that road. 

"You're sure it's not too much trouble? He'd not going to be a great patient I can tell you that right now.", May said sounding solidly between worried and amused.

Having already considered that, Tony huffed a laugh. "We'll be fine. I'm a genius, I'm sure we can figure out somewhat to keep the kid from going stir crazy.", he said with a shake of his head before noticing that Dr. Cho was waving him back into Peter's room. "I've got to go, apparently he's waking up. Should I send Happy by to get you?"

"I'm on my way out the door now. I can stop by there on my way to work."

"Alrighty, see you soon, May.", he said as he ended the call and waltzed back into the hospital room to find a tired and disoriented looking kid staring back at him. "Hey, kid. Met your match, huh?"

Peter sighed deeply waiting for the part where Tony was going to start yelling at him for not being a little quicker about calling for back up but it never came. Rather the was approaching his bed with a tight smile before reaching out to place a gentle had on his shoulder. "Aren't you going to yell at me?", he finally asked after a few moments had passed in silence.

"Nope. You actually called me for once and I'm sort of proud of you for that. Do I think you could have called me sooner? _Yes_ but I'm going to take the fact that you called me at all a win. Now, how are you feeling?", Tony asked with sympathy. He'd never seen the kid this bad off before and it was painful to look at. 

Swallowing back some of the nausea from the still healing concussion, Peter turned to look at his mentor for the first time since he'd entered the room. "Honestly? Really, really bad. Everything hurts and I--" He was going to say that he thought he might throw up but that was suddenly unnecessary as he gagged over the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry.", he quickly spouted out before gagging again and adding to the embarrassing puddle on the floor.

The first thing Tony did was press the nurse's call button in hopes that they could give the kid something to stave off the upset stomach but after that he was standing at a safe distance away from where Peter was still trying to vomit up things he'd eaten in kindergarten, while still being able to gently rub his back. "You're alright, Buddy. The nurse is on her way."

After a few more hours of observation and one more round of vomiting that Tony was grateful to have missed out on, thanks to May's presence, he was wheeling the miserable kid up to his room in the penthouse. "Alright, kiddo, let's get you into this bed.", he said as he assisted Peter into the bed without any major incident outside of a few painful hisses and a general wobbliness due to the pain medication. "It's really late, Buddy, so we're going to get some food and some more pain medication in you and then you're going to sleep, yeah?"

Unable to argue, Peter nodded his head gently and tried to find the least painful way to lean his body up against the headboard. "What if I throw up?", he asked listlessly. "I don't want to throw up again. It _really freaking hurts_." 

"You won't.", Tony replied with moderate confidence. "They gave you medicine for that and your healing factor is already working on that concussion of your's so you should be okay. ... but if you do, we'll clean it up and get you some extra pain medication. Sound good?" It didn't sound good but Peter nodded his head all the same. He didn't want to be a bother. He was sure the man had better things to do that to babysit him for the next ten to fourteen days. 

Once Tony had walked out of the room, Peter closed his eyes for what he thought was only a second but when he opened them again, Tony was back with a bowl of lightly buttered pasta and a glass of white grape juice on a wooden lap tray. Now, Peter had always considered himself to be fairly ambidextrous. Even before the spider bite gave him a whole new level of motor skills but for some reason using a fork in his non-dominant hand was not working. It could have been the concussion, the pain medication or his general lethargy but whatever it was, trying to get the pasta into his mouth was becoming frustrating enough to make his eyes water. 

He finally had to toss the fork aside and look away from Tony when he once again dropped the noodles down his chin with a grunt of resentment leading to one of the pending tears to escape the corner of his eye. "I'm not hungry.", he lied because that was easier than admitting that he couldn't get the damn fork to work right.

"Oh, kid. Come here, look at me.", Tony said gently. "I'll help you and in a few days, you'll be able to use your right hand again. We'll stick to sandwiches or something until then, alright?" 

When Tony reached over to pick up the discarded fork, Peter tried to knock it out of his hand. "I said I'm not hungry.", he reiterated with as much venom as he could force out of himself at the moment, though admittedly it wasn't much. The idea of being sixteen and spoon-fed by none other than Tony Stark was fairly humiliating at the moment. Even if he did consider the man practically his father at this point. It wasn't like he would have let May feed him either. He was too big for this. "_please._"

Tony sighed and set the fork back down. "Hey, I get it, you don't want me to feed you but I'll tell you what. I promise not to make airplane noises or anything and as an added bonus, I'll make sure FRIDAY doesn't record it. How about that?", he said with a smile, hoping the kid would just take him up on the offer. It was well after one in the morning, there was very little in his pantry that would suit the needs of a still slightly nauseous kid and even if there was, he was too tired make it. "You have to eat something to get the pain medication, kiddo and the stuff they gave you downstairs is going to wear off soon."

Those seemed to be the magic words to get Peter to cooperate because if he was already uncomfortable he couldn't imagine what he would feel like once the medication wore off. So, he allowed Tony to feed him most of the large bowl before insisting that he didn't need anymore. It was sitting heavily in his stomach and he was starting to get worried. Thankfully the man didn't push the issue and just went to get a straw for the glass and doled out the necessary tablets. "There we go, Bud. I'm going to go to bed too but if you need anything, I want you to wake me up." When Peter paused before nodding he repeated himself a little more firmly. "I mean it. If you need anything, have FRIDAY get me. You can have another half of a pain pill if you're still hurting in an hour, so if you are... call me. If you need some water, call me. _If you need anything. _ Call me. Got it?"

"I got it. I promise.", Peter said as he started to try and scoot himself back into a more horizontal position already deciding that he was going to do whatever he needed to do to not have to call the man in the middle of the night, well, morning at this point. If he had to deal with some discomfort until it was time for his next dose, so be it. However, by the time four in the morning rolled around, he was awake but not from pain. 

Neither Tony nor Peter had considered that he should probably use the bathroom before bed and now he was laying there staring at the ceiling trying to decide what to do. He couldn't get up on his own, partially because he had nothing to balance himself with and one of his legs was in a cast, partially because his head was still a little foggy from the medication but mostly because he knew it would hurt. 

Once he had laid there for an hour, dreading the idea of getting up and fretting over the idea of waking Tony, the pressure had gotten to the point where he could no longer ignore it. "FRIDAY? Can you get Mr. Stark for me please?", he said miserably once he'd decided that getting the man to help him was going to have to be necessary.

Not even three minutes later, Tony was opening the door with a pill container in one hand, a water bottle in the other, and pillow creases etched across his left cheek. "Hey, Buddy. I've got your medicine, right here.", he said tiredly. 

Clearly, the man had gone to bed with the pills and water at his bedside to save time and Peter suddenly felt bad for waking the man up for something so unanticipated. However, the guilt wasn't going to prevent him from having to say something. He really didn't want to wet the bed. "Oh, um, that's not why I called you. I, uh... I need to pee.", Peter admitted quietly. "I'm sorry."

Having not even considered how that was going to work, Tony hesitated. "Okay. That's fine.", he replied calmly as he tried to decide the best way to handle this. He considered going down to medical and finding a bedpan or a medical urinal but decided the kid would probably balk at that, not to mention he probably didn't want to clean something like that up. Then there was also the fact that the discharge instructions he'd been given said that it would critical that he make sure Peter got up for at least a few minutes a few times a day to help with circulation. He supposed walking to and from the bathroom counted. " Well... let me help you up, I guess."

"Mm-hmm.", Peter agreed as he started to try and sit up by himself. It was obvious that his healing was doing its job because the movement didn't cause his stomach to flip but it still hurt his head. Once they had both of his feet over the edge of the bed and Tony was haphazardly trying to figure out the best way to help him balance without hurting him, Peter had to say speak up. His bladder was screaming and they weren't going fast enough. "Mr. Stark? I really need to go to the bathroom. Can we please hurry?"

"Alright, alright.", Tony said having not realized before that moment how dire the situation was. "Let me know if I'm hurting you so I can ease up, yeah?", Tony said before hoisting the boy up with one hand around his waist and the other holding onto his good elbow so that the boy could use him as a human crutch while not toppling over. Once inside the bathroom, Tony really didn't know what to do but Peter was quick to issue some instructions. 

"Just help me get my pants down and leave.", Peter ordered not unkindly. He was just in a bit of a hurry and didn't have time for Tony to overanalyze everything. 

So, Tony propped the kid up on the counter and did as instructed while staring at the ceiling before turning to make a hasty exit in order to offer the requested privacy. Once outside of the door, Tony ran his hands down his face. With the urgency having passed, the circumstantial awkwardness was setting in. Then, with the okay to return he helped Peter get his shorts back in place before slowly getting him back in bed. "You good, now? Need any medicine?", he asked once Peter seemed to have settled back down onto the pillows.

"I'm fine. I don't need anything yet. I'm sorry I woke you up, Mr. Stark.", Peter said tiredly. Without the anxiety of the situation rushing through him, the wooziness of the pain medication was quickly returning. 

Sighing, Tony rested his hand on the boy's forehead. "Stop saying you're sorry. I told you to call me if you needed anything and needing the bathroom definitely counts. Tomorrow night, I'll make sure to take you before I go to bed."

After cringing at the way the man had said he would 'take him' to the bathroom as if here were three and a half, Peter took a deep breath and considered telling him that he could manage on his own. Though the truth was, he couldn't and he knew that. As such, he just nodded his head and watched as Tony flipped the light back off and exited the room.

Later that morning, Tony was back in the room looking slightly disheveled. "Hey, Buddy. How are you doing?", he asked as he started opening the pill bottle. He'd overslept and was very aware that Peter was more than overdue for his next dose of pain relief. His plan at this point was to have the boy go ahead swallow the tablets and then talk him into being fed some yogurt to cushion them because he still didn't have any real food in the house. Not even a cracker or a loaf of bread.

"I don't know.", Peter said through his teeth as he suppressed the urge to whine. The pain was radiating through what felt like the entire right side of his body. He'd actually been seconds away from asking FRIDAY to call him when the door opened up.

"I'm sorry I over-slept, kiddo. I wish you would have called me.", Tony said as he placed the pills in Peter's hand and started getting the straw into the water bottle so he wouldn't have to sit up too much. Once the kid had swallowed them down, he decided it was time to spring the next part on him. "You have to eat something with those and I haven't had anything delivered yet. I'm going to go get you a yogurt. If can't do it, I'll help, yeah?" 

Already knowing there was no way out of this, Peter nodded his head and allowed himself to be fed once again, though this time it didn't feel nearly as embarrassing. Probably because he was more focused on trying to breathe through the pain while willing the pills to hurry up and dissolve so that they could start working. Tony sat with him the whole time, wiping away the tears and quietly apologizing over and over again. "Stop... saying... you're sorry. It's a-annoying.", he hissed after the man had repeated the same words for what felt like the eightieth time. When the man laughed it took him a moment to realize why and then despite his agonizing discomfort he was smiling. "I'm allowed to say it. Not you."

"Alright, Buddy. Whatever you say.", Tony said as he smiled at the hypocrisy of it all. The kid apologized at least ten times a day. 

The second, Peter was back to resting comfortably Tony, took a few minutes to wipe the sweat off of his brow, help him to the bathroom and get him into some clean clothes. Then sat down with him so that they could place a grocery order filled with enough finger food to feed a kid with an enhanced metabolism for at least two weeks. By the time they had done that Peter seemed to be shifting in bed. "You need some more medicine?"

"No. I think I'm okay for now.", Peter replied honestly because, after the amount of pain he'd endured over the last hour or so, he didn't plan on holding back when it came to asking for medication again. He was pretty sure he'd never hurt so bad in all of his life. Even being shot had been better than that. Probably because being shot was very different than practically shattering one entire side of your body.

"Do you need the bathroom?", Tony answer in return and when Peter shook his head no, Tony started to get slightly frustrated. Something was obviously wrong and he didn't know what it was. "Then what is it, Kid? What do you need?"

"I'm hungry.", Peter said with a bit of guilt lacing his tone. All he'd had was a small cup of yogurt and that had been over an hour ago but he didn't want to say anything since Tony had indicated that there wasn't much there and the order hadn't been delivered yet. "It's okay though, Mr. Stark. I won't starve before the food gets here."

Sighing Tony got up from the chair he'd been sitting in to scour the kitchen for any kind of sustenance to hold the kid over. The best he could come up with that didn't require eating utensils was a stray hot pocket that he didn't even know the flavor of. "I've got a mystery Hot Pocket. Do you want it? It's that or I can make you some more pasta... or oatmeal. I have instant oatmeal and...yep... one more yogurt. What'll it be?" 

Unsure if he wanted to eat any kind of mystery food. Peter thought about declining all of the current options because he also didn't want to have to ask the man to feed him again either. Then his stomach started to cramp and he was forced to make some sort of choice before he made himself sick. "Whatever's easiest for you.", he finally called out, deciding that he didn't really have any room to be picky. Tony's already gone out of his way enough and he didn't want to sound ungrateful.

Popping his head back in Peter's door, Tony rolled his eyes. "Kid, it's all easy. I'm more than capable of boiling water and using the microwave. You can thank my years of college life for that.", he said with a smirk. "Seriously, what do you want?"

Peter ended up settling on the yogurt because it was the quickest option but this time he tried to feed it to himself. It went just about as well as it had the night before but Tony just took over without saying a word while Peter bit back the urge to apologize again. The remainder of the day was spent alternating between watching television with Tony when he needed a distraction from the pain, talking to May or Ned on the phone when he was up to it and napping through the worst parts of the drug-induced haze. It was as if he was only allowed to feel tired and pain-free or achy and awake but thankfully they had both been extremely diligent about not letting his medication lapse again. Not that they could if they tried. Tony had made sure to have FRIDAY start tracking that first thing that morning. 

"Alright, kid, It's after midnight. You should probably get some sleep.", Tony said when Peter was no longer paying attention to the movie they were watching. "Actually let's take some medicine first. It's a little early but that should be fine. What do you want to eat with it?"

Ignoring the later questions, Peter frowned. "I've been sleeping all day, Mr. Stark", he said as a yawn managed to skip past him before he could stop it. 

"You always sleep more when you're healing and that pain medication messes with you. Now, what do you want to eat with the pills? If you don't pick then I'm going to feed you yogurt again.", Tony replied without missing a beat. 

"How about some grapes and maybe one of those drinkable yogurt things.", Peter returned with a sigh because he couldn't really think of a way to argue with any of that. Tony was right, his healing factor tended to suck up all of his energy and the pain medication seemed to dull his senses and make his head swim. Though the relief they offered from the amount of pain he would be in without them was well worth it. 

"You went to the bathroom an hour ago, do you want to go again before I turn out the lights?", Tony asked gently. He knew Peter wasn't fond of the added company when it came to getting to the toilet but it couldn't be helped. Even with a crutch, the medication left him far too shakey on his feet to be trusted to get there and back without reinjuring himself. When Peter looked at him somewhat unsurely he made the decision for him and wordlessly started helping him up. 

The next day went about the same. Peter hovered between being exhaustion and general achiness and Tony did what he could to be an adequate distraction. This meant that whenever the kid was awake he was in the room rewatching movies he'd seen over and over again or pulling up various designs on a tablet for them to go over and discuss. 

May came by to visit at some point in the evening before work, giving Tony a couple of hours to disappear into the workshop, a welcome distraction of his own. He enjoyed taking care of the kid but it felt nice to have some, worry-free, time to himself for a while. With May there he knew all of the boy's needs would be more than met and he could focus solely on the work he'd been neglecting. He'd hoped he could get in a little extra time even after she'd left but his presence was requested the moment she stepped out because apparently, asking her to help him to the bathroom was unacceptable. Therefore by the time, he was alone and able to request the person that he preferred to receive that sort of assistance from, it had become a rushed situation. 

~o~o~o~o~o~

The next morning, Tony entered his room already dressed in a three-piece suit and carrying a tray stacked high with breakfast foods. "Morning, kiddo. You doing okay?", he asked before noticing the grimace across the boy's face. 

"Actually. I was, I was just about to call you. I know it's not time yet but can I have another pill? My arm hurts like hell.", Peter said through his teeth. Somehow or another he'd ended up with his arm dangling off the bed as he slept and woke up with it absolutely throbbing. He'd thought that by elevating it on one of the extra pillows Tony had placed on the bed it would stop but it hadn't.

Setting the tray aside, Tony walked over to the bed to assess what looked like some very swollen fingers and winced in sympathy. "Yeah, we can do that. I'm going to get some ice too. We need to keep an eye on those fingers, they're not tingling or anything, right? You can feel them?"

"Mm-hmm. I can feel them alright.", Peter replied quietly as he swallowed down the extra half a pill being handed to him. "I slept wrong and it all swelled up."

After getting the ice pack for the kid's arm and placing the tray over his lap, Tony checked his watch. He was supposed to be attending an early morning meeting downstairs but it was going to have to wait at this point. He wasn't about to leave Peter when he was in so much pain. He'd make it to the afternoon ones. It would be fine. Pepper already knew what was going on so she couldn't get too mad at him about it. That's what he hoped anyway as he went into his office to give her a call.

With the extra medication in him, Peter slept off and on for the majority of the morning, though by lunch he was much less lethargic and more than ready to eat. The swelling in his fingers had gone down by at least half and the pain was now manageable. That meant that Tony was definitely going to those afternoon meetings. He had sort of mixed feeling about it. He certainly didn't want the kid to be in pain but at the same time, he was ever so slightly disappointed that he no longer had an excuse to stay home. "I need to go downstairs to a couple of meetings, okay, kid? I'll be back in no more than two hours and a half hours but if you need anything, call me. I'm only a few floors away, yeah?"

"Of course!", Peter said with wide eyes suddenly realizing that Tony had been in a suit all day and had probably missed a few meetings on his account already. "I won't need you though, I'll be fine until you get back."

Tony looked Peter over skeptically before asking him if he needed anything before he left and heading down the elevator, worry eating away at the back of his mind. By the time he'd made it to the board room, he'd gone over a mental checklist at least three times. He'd given the kid lunch and left him with snacks and a water bottle. Reminded him that he could ask FRIDAY about any movie he could possibly want, made sure he didn't need to pee and triple checked that his medicine wasn't due until well after he got back. 

So when his phone buzzed and hour and a half later, he sort of panicked. "Hey, kid. You alright?", Tony asked with concern as he stepped out of the meeting he'd been sitting in. All he could think was that maybe his fingers had swollen back up and that had been listed as an 'automatic call me without hesitation' situation. 

"Mm-hmm. I was just, just wondering when you were coming back. That's all.", Peter replied anxiously, something, Tony picked up on immediately making his own heart start to flutter a bit. 

"Not for another hour or so. Why? What's wrong?", Tony asked only to be met by several seconds of silence that managed to send his anxiety through the roof. 

"Please don't be mad.", Peter finally spat out, allowing Tony to breathe again because there was nothing the kid could have done from his bed to make him mad.

"What could you have possibly done for me to be mad about? You've been in bed for two and a half days.", he asked with a relieved laugh. There was literally nothing that could have happened. Even if it had, FRIDAY would have alerted him long before Peter did.

Paying no attention to the way the man was now laughing, Peter rapidly began to explain his current situation. The last thing he'd wanted to do was to have to call the man at work but his body wasn't giving him much of an option. If he'd known he was going to be left alone for over two hours he definitely wouldn't have had that second soda with lunch. "I didn't do anything... It's just that I know you're in a super important meeting and all but I need to go to the bathroom really really bad. I'm so sorry."

"Oh, kid.", Tony sighed out because this was no longer a laughing matter. The boy was sounded borderline embarrassed with a touch of frantic tossed in there for good measure. "I'll be right there, alright?"

"Mm-hmm. Can you please hurry? ...I'm really sorry.", Peter said again because despite the man's gentle tone he was still slightly worried about having to call him back home only an hour and a half after leaving.

"It's fine. I'm coming right now. Five minutes.", Tony assured him before hanging up the phone. Only he didn't get very far before Pepper was exiting the boardroom and catching him by the shoulder.

"Tony!", she shouted in annoyance. "Where are you going?"

Turning around to meet her eyes, Tony sighed. He should have known she would stop him. "Kid needs me for a minute I'll be right back. I promise.", he explained, hoping she would let it go. 

At those words, Pepper was looking at him with deep concern. Even she knew Peter well enough to know he wouldn't call Tony back for no reason. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine just needs my help with something really quick.", Tony hurriedly replied before attempting to walk away again. He'd told the kid five minutes and he'd already killed two of them in the hallway trying to get away.

Having known Tony long enough to know that he would use absolutely any excuse to get out of any kind of business meeting, she contemplated his words carefully before grabbing him by the shoulder once again. Just to make sure he wasn't using Peter an out. "Tony, we're almost done in here, if he's okay then can whatever it is wait a few minutes."

"It probably can but I don't know for how many before I'm locked into changing the sheets instead.", Tony replied with an eyebrow raised as he waited for his words to sink in and for Pepper to get catch on to what he was eluding too. When she did, her reaction was well worth the sarcasm. 

"Oh.", she said with a slight surprise before fumbling over her next words. She'd not considered that in the least. "Well, I suppose you should go help the poor kid out then."

"That's my plan." , Tony said as he began to quickly walk away, still talking over his shoulder. "...but I need to get going because I was asked to 'please hurry'. Which translates to, 'I didn't want to disturb you so I tried to wait until the very last second. Which is like a perpetual thing with this kid, I swear. ...be right back.

~o~o~o~o~o~

"Alright, kid. I'm here. Let's get you to the bathroom.", Tony said the second he made it to the boy's room. However, when he held out his arm for Peter to pull himself up his weight-bearing knee seemed to buckle and he ended up back on the bed. "Whoa, slow down there, kiddo."

Shaking his head lightly, Peter started to try and pull himself up again only to have Tony try to stop him. "I just got dizzy for a second. I'm okay, we can go now.", he assured as he once again tried to rise to his feet. 

"No, let's wait a minute.", Tony replied, not wanting the kid to rush and pass out on him. "That pain medication really messes you up, doesn't it..."

"Mm-hmm", Peter agreed before reminding the man why he'd called him to begin with. "...but I can't wait a minute. I need to pee, like, right now."

"Alright, well let me get both hands on you, then.", Tony sighed out as he leaned over to get his hand around the boy's waist. "Okay, up you get." 

Once upright with Tony's support, Peter began to hop and hobble towards the bathroom as fast as his aching body would allow. They went through their now practiced routine with ease, except this time instead of waiting until after Tony left the room to lower himself onto the toilet, he dropped down onto the seat and began to relieve himself the moment the man had his pants out of the way. Having decided that at this point, retreating was unnecessary, Tony simply turned his back and waited until Peter had finished.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark, Peter said as they made their way back to the bed. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I tried to wait until you were done with your work but--"

"--You're fine, kid. No big deal. Maybe don't put it off so long next time, yeah? You're not bothering more or interrupting me or whatever it is that you think you're doing when you call me for help. You come first.", Tony assured as he arranged the boy's pillows so that his leg and arm were both elevated again "Do you need anything else before I head back down? How are your fingers?"

"I'm fine. My fingers are fine.", Peter said before hesitating. "...You'll be back in an hour?"

"..or so, yes. Why do you plan on needing something then?", Tony asked with a laugh but he was somewhat serious. He wasn't sure what it was going to take to prove to Peter that he really did come first. "...because whatever it is you can ask me now. I have time."

"I don't need anything else right now. I'm just bored.", Peter admitted with a huff. He'd been in that bed for two days now and without Tony there he was getting restless. 

"Hmm. You miss me huh?", Tony teased with a wide grin.

"Shut up.", Peter replied with a mildly embarrassed laugh. He wasn't even sure why that comment had flustered him as it had but it did. "I didn't say that."

"So rude to me! What would your Aunt May say!", Tony then interjected, placing his hand over his heart however Peter never got to answer because, at that moment, FRIDAY interrupted them. 

"Boss, Steve Rogers, Same Wilson, Natasha Romanova, and Clint Barton have returned and are requesting your presence on the common floor."

Tony paled. He'd somehow managed to forget about the entire incident that led to Peter requiring so much of his attention. He'd been so focused on that, that he'd not even attempted to check on the others or the progress they'd made towards catching the thing that had done all of this to his kid. He wanted to feel guilty but then he looked at Peter and realized that maybe his priorities had been just fine. "Uh... Tell them I've got meetings. I'll be down after unless it's critical.", he said before turning his attention back to Peter.


	2. Chapter 2

After Tony had told the other Avenger's that he would meet them downstairs to talk, Peter stilled. "What about me?", he asked already irritated that he'd been so easily left out of the conversation.

"What about you?", Tony said with sarcasm. The kid was thirty-six hours into recovery and still dependant on pain medication to make it through the day. Even with his advanced healing, the fractures he had sustained were serious. Ones that a non-enhanced being would take up to four months to heal from completely. 

Even with the exhaustion, Peter was able to put forth enough effort to state his case without missing a beat. "That dude was after me. Don't I deserve to be in on that conversation?", he asked with annoyance. While he'd not gone looking for that fight, it had become his. The man was clearly after him from the beginning and he wanted to know why just as much as anyone else. Maybe more so. It was personal. 

"Pete, you're still healing. You can't even get out of bed to pee on your own how are you going to get all the way to the common floor?", Tony asked, his voice softening slightly. He couldn't deny that the boy had a point but after three days of seeing him in so much pain, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to protect him from it all. 

"Can't they come up here? You can take me to the living room, right?", Peter practically begged as he tried to rearrange his body so that there was a little less pressure on his ribs. "Please Mr. Stark. This was my fight, to begin with. He was after me. I should be there."

"Fine.", Tony relented before passing the message along to the others. "FRIDAY, tell them to meet me up here around six. We'll talk in my living room."

"Of course, Boss.", The AI dutifully replied as Tony sighed. 

After checking Peter's fingers once more and replenishing the water at his bedside, Tony looked at his watch. He'd been up there way longer than he'd meant to be. Pepper was going to kill him. "Alright, I'm going back to my meetings. Call me if you need anything else. Anything at all. Preferably before it becomes some sort of an emergency."

Peter nodded his head and Tony hurried back downstairs where he was met by a rather annoyed Pepper. Though as annoyed as she looked she didn't say anything. She just led the way into the conference room where the next meeting had been put on hold until he arrived. Then, because of the delay, the meeting went over and that had Tony worried. Nevertheless, it turned out okay because a quick check with FRIDAY showed that Peter was completely knocked out. Which was really for the best. The more he slept the easier it would be for his body to heal.

By the time he finally got home two hours later, Peter was wide awake and at the tail end of his medication. The next dose wasn't due for nearly an hour but that didn't seem to matter. It had already started to wear off enough that Peter was getting restless and sore. 

"Can I have it early, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked pitifully the moment Tony stuck his head into the room. Even though he'd been extremely nonspecific, he knew the man would understand exactly what he was talking about.

Looking at his watch, Tony nodded his head. "Yeah, Buddy. That should be fine. What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care. Anything. I just want it to stop hurting.", Peter returned with a little more emotion than he'd intended but he'd been at varying levels of pain for the last several days and it was becoming harder and harder to deal with. All he could think was that it was a good thing he had a healing factor because doing this for longer than a couple of weeks would suck. The worst part was that this wasn't even as bad as it had been for the last two mornings, yet it still seemed like too much. He almost wondered if he was being a baby about it. 

"Alright, keep your shirt on.", Tony said with a roll of his eyes but he hurried off to the kitchen anyway. Returning moments later with a small stack of crackers and some cheese that Peter completely ignored until he'd swallowed the tablets. "There you go, kiddo. We're going to let that kick in and then we'll see if you still feel up to trying to get out to the living room, yeah?"

Peter desperately wanted to believe that he would still want to join in the discussion later but it was kind of hard to picture that for the time being. So rather than respond, he closed his eyes and counted his breaths in and out to get through the worst of it all. He felt Tony's hand come up to his hair and he made a point of concentrating on that sensation rather than the searing pain that was radiating through the injured half of his body. At some point, things became bearable enough for Peter to fall into a light sleep, waking up an hour or so later, when Tony started to gently call his name. 

"Hey, Pete, if you still want to join us in the living room you're going to have to wake up, Bud.", he said softly, hoping upon hope that the kid would sleep through it. He didn't really want to wake him up but at the same time, he knew Peter would be pissed if he didn't at least try. When Peter opened his eyes almost instantly he sighed. "How do you feel?"

"I don't know, yet. I just woke up.", Peter croaked through the sleep still settled in his throat. "Better, though. It just sort of aches instead of throbbing."

"Well, they're going to be here in the next half hour, do you want to try to go to the couch?", Tony asked in defeat. There was going to be no talking the kid out of this and he knew it.

After a minute or so of thought, Peter's attention fell to the hem of the sheet where he fiddled with the corner. "Um... Can we... can we maybe change my clothes first?", he mumbled, realizing that this was a tall order. But he'd been wearing the same clothes for two days now. 

"Seriously, Pete? Do you not remember how hard it was to change your clothes the other day when you sweat through them?", Tony asked in horror. As much of a fan as he was of good hygiene, that was an experience he wasn't looking forward to repeating. "It took us twenty minutes and then you were exhausted when and practically in tears by the time we got done."

"Yeah but... this is the Avengers, Mr. Stark and I'm in a gross wrinkled t-shirt.", Peter practically whined as he used his good hand to gesture towards the shit that was indeed sort of gross and wrinkled. Eating while mostly reclined had led to more than a few spills and there were quite a few stains decorating the material around his neck. 

"You know what? I'm offended, kid.", Tony said, feigning annoyance. 

"Why?"

Tony raised an eyebrow and gestured vaguely towards himself. "You do realize I'm an Avenger too, right? Does the name Iron Man ring any bells?"

"Mm-hmm but you're different. You're not just Iron Man. You're... you.", Peter replied genuinely. He'd been spending so much time with the man in the last year that they felt more like family than anything else. 

Tony couldn't stop himself from smiling. The kid had long since gotten over his hero worship and they'd obviously become rather close. He took pleasure in the fact that Peter liked him for him. Not him for his money, fame or genius. To peter, he was just 'Tony Stark'. "Sure, kid. Let's change your clothes. You want to try and clean up too? I can get you a washcloth and help you rinse it out and whatnot."

"You don't mind?", Peter asked hopefully because despite the fact that washing up like that would mean being completely naked with Tony in the room, the idea of being clean outweighed the potential awkwardness. Though in reality, he knew it wasn't that much different than the man helping him get ready to use the bathroom or when they had changed his clothes the first time. 

"Of, course not.",Tony said as he started to gather some clothes before going to collect Peter to help him hop towards the bathroom. 

Tony ended up depositing him onto the closed toilet lid where they slowly and painfully removed his shirt first before making their way down to his shorts. Tony kept his eyes everywhere except on Peter the whole time, just as he had any other time he'd needed to assist the boy with his clothes. Then once he was ready, he wet a washcloth and handed it over along with a bar of soap holding his hand out so that any time Peter wanted it rinsed all he had to do was pass it over. He knew Peter couldn't reach everywhere but he could get to the essential areas and that would have to be good enough. They could figure something else out if it ever became critical. "You about done, kid?", he asked when the newly rinsed cloth wasn't immediately taken from his hand.

"Yeah. I guess so. Can I have a towel please?", Peter asked, his voice shaking slightly. Partly from being damp and party from the pain that was creeping up from the overuse of his body. 

"Sure, here you go.", Tony replied as he handed over one of the fluffy blue towels kept under the cabinets. After that, the only sound in the room was the rustling of a towel as Tony kept his attention elsewhere. In fact, he was in the process of studying a small crack in the counter when he heard Peter attempt to gain his attention.

"Hey, Mr. Stark? Can, can you help me, dry off my back?", Peter mumbled quietly under his breath. His energy was waning and he couldn't seem to reach where the water had dripped between his shoulder blades while washing his neck and shoulders, without causing some serious strain to his ribs. 

"Yep. I can do that.", Tony returned quickly, though he pushed the towel being held out to him back towards the kid. "Nope. I'll grab another one, you can keep that one in your lap.", he suggested with a smile. The use of a second towel was no big deal and by doing it that way, they could preserve some of Peter's modesty with the added benefit of him not sitting there freezing to death.

"Thanks, Mr. Stark.",Peter mumbled as the man began to run the towel up and down his slumped back so that the t-shirt they were about to put on would fall into place comfortably. "I'm glad you're helping me with this and not Aunt May. This would be way weirder with her."

"Not a problem.", Tony assured even though he wanted to admit that it was still a little weird for him. Though he could see the kid's point. While his aunt had probably seen him naked more than a few times, it had more than likely been years since that had been any kind of necessary and maybe it was easier to have familiar male to do the assisting at this point. "Should we get the worst part over with first?", Tony asked as he tossed the towel aside and started unfolding the t-shirt that he'd taken from the boy's drawer. 

By the time the dressing process was mostly complete, FRIDAY was announcing the pending arrival of the other Avengers and Peter was taken over by a sudden urge to hurry up and get out to the living room. He'd wanted to be seated on the couch before they arrived so that they didn't have to see him struggle. It was going to be a much longer walk than the one to and from the bathroom and he knew it was going to hurt too. 

The process was slower than it could have been because Peter was already extremely tired and sore from the impromptu bath. As such, they were no more than halfway down the hall when Captain America himself was coming through the door followed by the rest of the team involved. Peter had to look away as the man smiled at him with pity. Between being spoon-fed and dressed by Iron Man and then having Captain Americal look at him the way he was, Peter was sure he'd never felt more incapable and small. 

"How about I take the other side?", the larger man asked as he waltzed down the hall with the intention of helping Tony get Peter across the large room. Peter wanted to protest but he didn't. Deep down he knew it would be much easier when two men supporting him and he was eager to have his body still again. Every hop led to a jolt of pain shooting through his right side. 

Steve was gentle as he slid his hand under Peter's injured arm and allowed the boy to grab the back of his shirt. From there it took no time at all for Peter to much more gracefully swing-hop himself across the room. "Thanks, Mr. Stark. Thanks, Captain Rogers.", he whispered once he was finally seated and Tony was rushing around collecting pillows to elevate his leg on the coffee table. 

Then things got down to business. "What do we know.", Tony asked tightly. "I mean besides the fact that the lunatic was watching Spider-man from the start."

"Well, that's the thing.", Stever said hesitantly. "We still don't know much more than that. Once you took off with Peter, the guy drank another vile of fluid and disappeared. Even Barton couldn't track him after that.--"

Tony's eyes flashed with a combination of anger and deep concern as the super-soldier spoke. Eventually, he couldn't hold his tongue any longer and cut in with heat. "--Wait, so you didn't catch him? ...and how the hell are you going to sit there and tell me that _Hawkeye_ over there lost the perp! Jesus Christ, I give you all one job! One job--"

"--Look It wasn't my finest moment, okay?", Clint snapped from across the room, where he was perched on the arm of the chair Natasha was sitting in. "The dude literally fucking disappeared. No footprints, no sound, no nothing."

"So he's just... gone?", Tony asked with a forced calm before the facade began to slip. "What are we supposed to do with that? We can't just let him roam free, what if he's actually targeting Spider-man? We can't have him--"

Getting more than frustrated by the constant interruptions, Steve finally shouted over the noise in the room. "--Tony! We didn't come up completely empty-handed. Natasha was able to get some intel based on what little evidence we were able to collect. Between that and the footage from the Spider-suit--"

This time it seemed to be Peter's turn to cut in as he shouted at Tony over Steve's explanation. "--Wait! Why do they have access to the footage in my suit! You said only you could get to it!", he asked angerly but Tony didn't rise to the bait. 

Tony rolled his eyes and reached over to place a hand on Peter's good knee. "Chill out, Pete. I only gave them access to the one night so that they could assess the situation. Now, let him finish. You can be all angsty about it later."

Now completely flustered, Peter tried to defend himself only to give up partway in. The details of the mission were far more important at the moment. They would have plenty of time to argue about it later. "I'm not-- fine. Go on."

"So what we know so far is that he's a scientist--", Steve began only to growl in frustration when Tony once again started to shout over him. 

\--of course, he is! Why wouldn't he be? I swear to God--", Tony clipped as he raised his hands in aggravation. The couldn't seem to get a break. Evil scientist, aliens, mutants... terrorists... you name it, they'd dealt with it. The world was becoming a very strange place. The lines between light and dark were becoming more and more distinct as research and technology prevailed. It was almost terrifying.

Having sat there quietly for long enough Natasha finally snapped. There was a lot to go over and no one seemed super eager to listen to the report. "--Tony! Enough.", she yelled with a menacing glare that was enough to make Peter shrink despite the fact that it wasn't directed at him. "You just told the kid to let him finish and then you start running your mouth. I swear you're all a bunch of children."

Once the room had remained silent for several seconds, Steve began to try again. Hoping to get through everything he had to say in one go this time. "Anyway... He's a scientist but we don't know if he's independent or working with one of the big laboratories in the area. All we do know is that he'd clearly experimenting with DNA which would make him tracking down Spider-man, make sense. Clearly whatever formula he's using is temporary and perhaps he's trying to find a way to make the change more... permanent."

"You think he wants to experiment on me?", Peter pipped up quietly as soon as there was pause enough for him to do so. The idea that someone might want to catch him and cut him open was terrifying. It was something he used to worry about when he'd first gotten his powers but hadn't thought about again in years. Not since he met Tony really. 

"That would make the most sense.", Steve replied softly. It hadn't been his intention to upset Peter in any way but facts were facts and he needed to know. If he knew people were after him he could be that much more careful in the future. "Looking back a the footage in the suit we found that same man in the background several times throughout the night before he finally gained your attention. It's a good thing you called for backup. Who knows what else he'd capable of."

Hearing the mild shake in Peter's voice as he questioned the scientists' intentions caused a feeling of protectiveness to swell up within Tony. "How do I track him down?", he asked through gritted teeth. No one was going to threaten the kid. 

"You don't.", Steve replied firmly. "You stay here and take care of the kid while we sort this out. Nat's going to go deep under and try to pinpoint the guy's location and identity. Any tech you can provide would be helpful as would... with Peter's permission of course... access to all of the Spider-suit footage. If we can pinpoint when this guy started watching him that could prove to be useful information." 

"Wait. Can't you just, I don't know, have FRIDAY run a scan to see when he showed up?", Peter asked carefully. There were definitely things that had been recorded by the suit that he didn't really want anyone to see. Not even Tony but there hadn't been much of a choice there. 

"We can but they'll still want to see what she sees, Buddy. I can have her isolate the video feed to only the times he shows up.", Tony said with a smile, knowing exactly what the kid was trying to avoid the others from seeing. The kid had a tendency to put the suit on and dance around in front of the mirror. Of course, that had been before he knew there was constant video monitoring. Beyond that, there were a few less than glorifying moments that he was sure the kid was trying to hide. Like the time he'd fallen directly into an open manhole... or the time gotten caught short and had to pee between two buildings before a sopping wet disaster could strike. When Peter eventually nodded his head in agreement, Tony smiled at him. "Alright done. FRIDAY? Did you get that, dear?"

"Yes. Boss. I'm already on it.", The AI quickly replied.

After there was some light chatter between the various adults in the room. As they all discussed what there different roles would be in the mission, Peter started to feel sort of left out despite the fact that the entire ordeal was his mess. "what can I do?"

"You can get better. Take it easy and Heal." Steve replied with a reassuring smile that for some reason made Peter's blood boil. Being injured was frustrating and the idea that he was having to be sidelined because of it was infuriating. 

"This isn't fair! I should be the one dealing with this. It's _my_ problem.", Peter petulantly declared as his face scrunched up in annoyance. 

"It's_ our_ problem.", Steve corrected as he gestured to encompass everyone in the room. "This isn't just about you. I mean, yes, we want to keep you safe and we don't want you to end up as a science experiment but this is also about the fact that the research this guy is doing is clearly unethical. Everything about it is corrupt and illegal. Peter, they may be trying to kidnap you in order to further research that could lead to an army of... something beyond that of a super-soldier. This is dangerous territory."

"I agree.", Natasha returned with firmness to her tone. "Sorry, Spider-boy, We have to stop it now before it's too late. We can't let him pursue this."

They all nodded their heads in agreement as Clint Spoke up in order to ger his two cents in. "We're going to track him down and next time, I'm not losing him. I'll hit him with a tracker before he has the chance."

After that Peter relented. At least in part because sitting up for such an extended period of time was starting to cause his ribs to burn and the lack of proper elevation to his arm and leg was making them begin to throb. Then on top of all of that, he realized that in his haste to get out to the living room he'd failed to use any of the extended amounts of time he'd spent sitting on the toilet, actually peeing. Though this point, his bladder was pretty insistent that he should have. He would have to go about this carefully. He _did not_ want the entirety of the Avengers to knowing that he needed help going to the bathroom.

"Mr. Stark?", Peter asked hesitantly as he reached beside him to grab the man's sleeve. "I'm really sorry to interrupt but, um, I think I want to go back to my room now. I... I just... I think maybe I should."

"You hurting, Buddy?", Tony whispered back because he'd been pretty sure that letting the kid sit up on the couch was probably a really bad idea. He also knew that the boy would have had a hissy fit about not being included but at least the kid was admitting that he'd hit the end of his rope. He just hoped he could get him back in bed and medicated before things got too bad.

Having overheard what was supposed to have been a private conversation, Steve pipped up and made his way over to Peter's opposite side. "Let me help you.", he stated once Tony had Peter all the way up on and balanced on his non-casted leg. 

"No!", Peter interjected quickly. The last thing he was wanted was for Steve to help him get to the toilet. That was something he was only really willing to allow one person to do and that one person was Tony. Maybe Aunt May in a pinch but definitely_ not_ Captian America. "I mean, it's fine, Mr. Stark and I can handle it."

Tony sighed and shifted his weight so that he could hold Peter a little more steadily. He seemed to be a bit antsy at the moment and he wasn't sure if it was from the pain or the fact that he didn't want Steve to help them. Though he couldn't figure out why. It had gone much more smoothly with someone balancing him from either side. "Kid, you know it would hurt less if we let him help..."

"I _know_. ...but...", Peter said as he willed the man to get his unspoken message of 'I really need to pee and I don't want anyone else to help with that.'

It took a moment before the boy's fading words and pleading eyes to sink in. Once they had it was obvious. The kid needed to pee. Probably rather urgently considering the fact that he hadn't emptied his bladder since he'd called for assistance several hours ago. Not even during the nearly forty minutes they'd spent in the bathroom before the debriefing began. An oversight that stemmed from the arrival of the other's he supposed. "Just to your bedroom door, alright? Then I'll take over.", Tony suggested, knowing that if the kid was bursting as he suspected he was, they'd be better off with at least a little added assistance.

Peter agreed and they were entering his room only a few short minutes later. He'd had to work pretty hard to keep the tears at bay as he grunted with each hop. Then the second they were alone, Peter looked at Tony and grimaced. "Can we go the bathroom first, Mr. Stark?", he asked unsure if the man had gotten his subliminal messages earlier, though he'd assumed he had. "I need to pee so bad it's not even funny."

"I figured.", Tony replied with a roll of his eyes as he directed the wobbly kid towards the bathroom. "Come on, then. I want you back in that bed."

"Mm-hmm.", Peter agreed because, at the moment, emptying his bladder was the only thing he wanted to more than going to lay down. He was tired and everything was sore. He didn't, however, regret sitting in on the meeting he just wished he could have made it through the whole thing but admittedly, even if he hadn't been minutes from wetting the couch, the pain on his side was getting to him enough to have suggested that he retire from the conversation early anyway.

Just as before, Peter didn't wait for Tony to exit the bathroom before releasing his bladder. At this point, the man having his back turned was good enough for him. It felt no different than using a public bathroom and frankly, he'd waited so long that he was suffering from proximity incontinence at that point. "I swear to God.", Tony began the moment Peter's flow eased to a stop. "You have got to start telling me when you need to piss."

"Ew. Don't call it that.", Peter replied in disgust as Tony turned around to help him out of the room.

"What piss?", the man asked with a roll of his eyes. The kid was so innocent at times it was almost cute. "Seriously, you keep holding it like that, you're going to give yourself an infection or something."

"I do tell you.", Peter replied as he tried to adjust his grip on the back of Tony's shirt.

Tony just looked at the kid, who was tucked so close to his side that he could feel his breath whenever he turned his head. "Yeah, when you're out of options. Otherwise, you wait for me to suggest it.", he said in near exasperation. 

"I don't want to bother you unless I have to.", Peter grumbled towards the floor. Tony was pretty good about asking him regularly if he needed to go so he just waited for those times. It felt as though that would be less annoying than bringing it up if he could wait.

"It doesn't bother me! For the love of Christ, everybody pisses--", Tony griped, rolling his eyes again when Peter's face scrunched up at his choice in words. "--Pees, whatever. I'd rather it not be a between a guessing game or a crisis every damn time. Just. Tell. Me."

"Okay!", Peter replied as Tony helped him adjust his pillows. Then, having gotten back into a laying position, Peter sighed in relief. Resting his ribs and having his broken limbs adequately elevated and supported was enough to immediately ease some of the tension that had been building inside of him. He was still in need of an additional dose of medication but he could breathe again. 

Tony left only for a few minutes to collect a bottle of water, his pills and snack to take them with. As he did so he could feel eyes on him. Looking over his shoulder from where he'd been collecting a cold bottle of water Tony glared. "What?", he nearly snapped in annoyance. He couldn't figure out what was so damn fascinating about him looking through his refrigerator. ...or why they were still there, to begin with. Surely they could finish this up without him.

"Nothing.", Clint said with a grin. "Just taking the opportunity to watch Daddy Stark in action."

Rolling his eyes, Tony continued to add items to the tray. "I'm not anybody's dad and you know it. I'm just taking care of him.... and you know, making sure he's comfortable until--", Tony began only to be cut short before he could finish.

"--like a dad.", Natasha inserted with a grin of her own despite the fact that Tony was now glaring between all of them.

"Alright, you two, leave him alone and let's go. We have work to do.", Steve replied firmly but you could still see them stupidly fond smile pulling at his lips as he directed the team out of the suit.

"Yeah, go do some work or something.", Tony groused as he bid them a quick farewell and reentered Peter's room to find the boy lying there as still as possible in an attempt to not jostle his injuries. "Here's your pill and I know you don't' want to sit up but you need to eat something with it, you know that."

"Can't I just drink a yogurt?", Peter whined. The idea of propping himself up again so soon sounded awful. 

Sighing at the pathetic sight before him, Tony relented easily. "Fine, let me go get it."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Later that evening, Tony was sitting in the chair beside Peter as the ate their dinner. He noticed that Peter was being quiet but he sort of assumed it was because he was still sore. It had only been an hour or so since he'd been giving his additional medication and he'd been in a fair amount of pain prior to that. It wouldn't be outside of the realm of possibility for him to still be feeling it. He was just about to question him about that when Peter finally spoke up.

"Do you really think that scientist guy was after me, Mr. Stark?", Peter asked as he licked the excess barbeque sauce from his fingers. "If so, do you think that means he knows who I am?"

The questions had come out so casual that Tony was slightly taken aback. Typically the kid's secret identity was everything to him. The idea that he would be so calm about the thought of a 'bad guy' knowing who his name seemed off. "I'm not sure, Buddy. Are you worried about it?"

"No.", Peter replied with ease. "Even if he does know who I am I don't think anyone would believe him. He seems sort of crazy. Don't you think?"

The guy was definitely crazy. There was no doubt about that. Anyone who would willingly put their body through numerous mutations in order to kidnap a super-hero was certifiable for sure. "I think crazy might be an understatement, kid.", Tony grumbled. Peter nodded his head and was quiet for a few more minutes, clearly deep in thought. 

"They're going to keep us in the loop on what's happening, right?", Peter asked once Tony began to clean up around the bed and collect his empty tray. He still couldn't help but feel as though he should be pulling his weight in this investigation. While he completely understood that there was no way on God's green Earth he could go out into the field he wanted to feel useful and if he couldn't even manage that then he wanted to believe he would, at minimum, be kept informed. 

Tony sighed because he could feel the undertones of that question. The kid was restless enough without feeling like he couldn't be of service in a mission he wholeheartedly believed he'd started. Even if that wasn't truly the case. All he'd done was bring it into the light, thankfully without being captured. "They will. They'll keep us up to date. I promise."

Peter nodded his head watched himself flex the fingers of his casted arm with interest. "That's good. ...and um. ...when you're done with that... I need to go to the bathroom, please. I mean, whenever you have a minute.", he mumbled quietly as he forced himself to be the one to bring it up this time.

"Sure. I'll be right back.", Tony replied as he walked out of the room, only to return moments later to be of assistance. 

~o~o~o~o~o~

Over the next several days, the pain in Peter's ribs had dissipated to a manageable level and all evidence of the concussion were gone. The fine cracks had healed to the point that they were only tender to the touch and no longer plagued him anytime he took a deep breath in. His arm and leg were not nearly as far along in the process but he was able to use his right hand without causing any pain to arise and at times when he was being helped across the room he found himself using toe-touching at times to regain some balance.

He was still on the pain medication, though he was no longer taking any additional doses and he was sleeping far less because of it. This left an awful lot of time for him to become restless and in general, antsy with cabin fever. At this point, he was making excuses to get out of the bed and he could tell he was kind of driving Tony crazy but he needed to do move. Even if it was just across the room. "Mr. Stark?"

"Hmm?", Tony asked as he skimmed through the latest report that Steve had sent him and making notes of anything he wanted more clarification on. He was going to have to go over it later with Peter and he wanted to make sure he had answers to as many predictable questions as possible before doing so. 

"I need to go pee."

Tony sighed, set the tablet down and looked Peter right in the eye. "You just peed less than an hour and a half ago.", he replied less exasperation that he was feeling. Over the last two days, the kid had been asking to pee nearly every hour. At first, he thought something was wrong. Like, maybe the kid had actually managed to give himself a bladder infection but after a quick evaluation from FRIDAY seemed the kid was just bored and apparently continuously sipping at water and having Tony trek to and from the bathroom with him was his newest form of entertainment.

"Well, I need to pee again and you're the one who told me to tell you when I needed to go.", Peter grumbled because he did need to go. It wasn't like he could fake it with the man standing right there. Even if he was getting his shorts up and down on his own now, he still needed help getting back and forth and unless he needed some extra time, Tony typically waited in the room for him to finish up.

"Fine.", Tony relented because he had said that. He'd given the kid a very hard time about waiting until the last possible moment but now he seemed to have the opposite problem. So up they got and once Peter had peed and was carefully washing his uncasted hand, Tony made a new suggestion. "Do you want to try sitting on the couch again?", he asked. It had been several days since the boy had been out of his room and he hoped that a change in scenery could cut down on the bathroom trips.

"Yes!", Peter shouted with absolute pleasure. One, because it meant he could be out of bed and on his feet for a few extra minutes and two because it meant getting out of his room.

Once out there, Tony sat him down and handed him a drink and snack before going back to his tablet. it sounded like the entire investigation was going poorly at best. Natasha had infiltrated several local biological science research facilities in the area and found nothing suspicious. Clint had been watching from the skyline with no luck and Steve had been going through the spider-suit footage and contacting anyone he deemed useful to question. He growled quietly in frustration at the lack of progress because he knew that once Peter was casts free he would be insisting on jumping into the search. Offering himself up as live bait and putting himself at risk for capture.

"What is it?", Peter asked when he noticed Tony's tense posture. "Did you hear anything from Steve? Did they catch the guy yet?"

"No.", Tony said through gritted teeth. "They haven't found much of anything. Natasha has one more place to get into and then its back to square one."

"What about the Spider-suit footage? Did they find anything on that?", Peter asked hoping for some sort of real news.

Tony sighed. There had been information on that front, he just wasn't eager to share it. "Yeah. Steve's been going through all of that and comparing it to surveillance in the area. Turns out this guy has been watching you for about three months."

"Three months!", Peter shouted in frustration. He couldn't figure out how he could have been being stalked for that long without noticing or at minimum sensing it. "How is that possible? ...and why wouldn't my spider-senses have warned me?"

"I don't know, Pete. From what I've seen, it looks like he's just been watching you. Maybe he wasn't a threat yet. Or maybe you did sense some sort of danger but didn't realize it was him. He stayed in the background, wearing that same hat and trench coat as the night you confronted him. He was blending in."

Peter sighed and glared down at his still casted leg. "He's waiting for me. If I could get out there, he'd come right to us. you wouldn't have to search.", he said with just as much aggravation as Tony. "I have what?", he angerly asked, "...another two weeks? Then I can help right?" 

"Kid! I refuse to use a child as literal bait for a psychopath scientist. What if he actually caught you? Then what?"

"Then you and the others save me. ... or I save myself. I'm not a child. Even if I was I have powers, Mr. Stark. I'm not_ helpless!_", he shouted before realizing that, at the moment he was just that. He couldn't even get up to pee by himself. ...or shower. ...or change his clothes. "How much longer until I can get up and move around by myself."

Happy for the change in subject, Tony sighed. "Bruce is going to x-ray you again in a few days. If things look good enough you can start getting around some on your own as long it's not painful."

Peter nodded and went back to the television and Tony went back to the reports. They stayed quiet for some time until Peter was shifting on the couch. He needed to pee again but he also knew that if he asked Tony to take him to the bathroom, the man would more than likely put him back in his bed, since that was closer than going all the way back to the couch so he held it. He held it for as long as humanly possible while being completely annoyed with himself for thinking that drinking more in order to get up more was a good idea. At this point, that plan was about to backfire on him because he _had to_ _go_ even if that meant going back to his bed after. "Mr. Stark?", he asked miserably.

"You need to go to the bathroom again, don't you.", Tony said as he sighed and set his tablet aside. He'd known that giving the kid that bottle of water had been a stupid idea. Now he was stuck having to haul him all the way back to his bedroom and it had only been two hours. "Come on then."

However, Peter only made into the hallways before he was completely stressing out. He had put it off for far longer than he'd meant to and the moment he'd stood up gravity had begun to pull on his bladder and it became instantly unbearable. "Can we use the hall bathroom?", he asked with trepidation. He knew that was going to be harder because the counter didn't butt up to the toilet. There was nothing there for him to hold on to, meaning that Tony was going to have to steady him while he pulled his pants down and lowered himself onto the toilet. However, at the moment that seemed far less humiliating than the alternative. "I'm going to pee my pants."

Rolling his eyes and grunting in frustration, Tony helped the kid into the hall bathroom and prepared himself to do whatever he needed to do to prevent the kid, who had not even two hours ago declared himself _not helpless_, from producing a puddle on his floor. He didn't say anything about it though. All it would do was cause argument and he wasn't in the mind frame for that at the moment. 

Despite the hurried pace and the much closer toilet, Peter quickly realized that he'd cut it entirely too short because as the man held him steady on one side Peter couldn't quite get his pants down before his bladder made a premature release and he was peeing full force into his clothes. Unable to stop the flow he ended up yanking himself out of Tony's hands in order to drop down onto the toilet, still peeing right through his shorts. Mostly because that seemed better than peeing on the floor, on his cast or potentially on Tony. "I'm sorry.", he said in breathy contentment as he continued to empty himself but Tony didn't reply. He just turned his back and waited for him to finish doing what he'd desperately needed to do.

Unsure of how to proceed once the boy had basically pissed himself, Tony hesitated. At least there was no puddle, there was that. "It's uh, it's fine. I'll just go get you some clothes. ... and a washcloth.", he said, trying to sound as neutral as possible for the kid's sake. While he was probably feeling utterly relieved after voiding that much urine, he was more than likely embarrassed to require a change of clothes as a result.

"Yeah, that would be good. Thanks.", Peter replied not feeling nearly as upset by the turn of events as he probably should have but after nearly two weeks of having the man help him eat, dress and pee this hardly seemed to tip the scale. So, rather than dwelling on it, he began to undress as he waited for Tony's return. From there they spent the next twenty minutes working together to get him cleaned up and redressed.

"Couch or Bed?", Tony asked as he held Peter up and waited for him to adjust the band of his shorts. When Peter indicated that he wanted to return to the living room he began to lead the way. "So. What happened there, kiddo?", Tony asked casually. For the last several days, the boy had been easily asking him for assistance and he was somewhat worried that he'd screwed that up by giving him a hard time about it earlier.

"Oh.", Peter said as he suddenly became very interested in carefully watching his steps. "I wanted to stay on the couch as long as possible.", he mumbled and when Tony made a noise to say that he wanted more to go on than that he sighed and continued. "I thought that once you'd helped me all the way back to my bathroom that you would make me get back in bed. I, um, I miscalculated how long it would take and um... I couldn't, you know... _hold it_."

"Oh kid", Tony sighed out tiredly. "I would have taken you back to where ever you wanted to go. Look, I know you're going stir crazy by now but just so you're also aware... I've got your little game all figured out. You're not drinking more because you're bored, you're drinking more because you know that if you need to pee you can get up for a little while."

"It's not a game, Mr. Stark.", Peter grumbled but in reality, he knew that no matter what you called it the man was right. He was definitely making a point of drinking enough in the mornings to require a few extra trips to the bathroom and slowing down in the afternoon so that he didn't have to wake the man up. 

"Whatever you say, kid.", Tony said with a smile. He completely understood where the boy was coming from. He was used to flipping through the city all day every day, seeing as school was out and he'd been holed up for days on end. Of course, he was getting restless. "I know you want to get up and move. That's why I offered to let you sit out here in the first place. Hell, I'll let you sit on the patio or on the couch in my office while I work if that means you'll calm down with the bathroom breaks.", he added with a laugh. "...and how about we stop with the Mr. Stark business. Surely we're past that by now. My name is Tony."

As Peter lowered himself on the couch he smiled. He'd had his own room in Tony's house for almost a year and they had sat on that very couch so close together that Peter had fallen asleep with his head on the man's shoulder while watching movies. They had probably been 'way past the Mr. Stark business' for a while but that wasn't something he would have ever moved past without permission. _He had manners_. So, he just look that the man and smiled. "Yeah. I guess we are. ...Tony." 


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days went by slowly and as promised he cut his excessive fluid intake in favor of being allowed to recline in other areas of the penthouse and when it came time for his recheck with Dr. Banner he was elated. He was really hoping to lose the casts all together but he had a feeling that wasn't going to happen yet but honestly, at this point. he would be thrilled to be able to walk on his own.

They made it down to medical using a wheelchair because Tony said he wasn't about to help him hop down eleven corridors to get to the medical wing and when Tony put it that way, Peter relented. Riding for a few minutes in a wheelchair would be far more comfortable and much quicker than the alternative. 

Dr. Banner greeted him warmly and was quick to get the nessesary questions and x-rays out of the way. It wasn't long before he determined that while the leg needed to remain partially immobile and stabilized for a little while longer, he was willing to replace the toe to thigh cast with one that only went to his knee with the added benefit of a walking 'shoe'. His arm, on the other hand, had come along quite a bit further and the cast was removed altogether and replaced with a removable splint.

"This way you can bathe and wash your hair on your own. I bet that sounds nice, huh?", Dr. Banner said once the splint was in place and Peter couldn't deny that it did sound nice. Over the last two weeks, he'd had his hair washed one time and that had only been a couple of days prior. His head had become itchy and sore with all of the built-up grease and sweat and when he couldn't take it anymore he'd begged Tony to help him. They had ended up propping him on the kitchen counter as he leaned over the sink. It had been time and energy-consuming task but he had to admit that it made all the difference and he was eager to wash it again the second they got back home.

However, by the time they had walked back up tot he penthouse, Peter's leg was aching painfully but he didn't say anything in fear of Tony forcing him onto the crutches that Dr. Banner had suggested if it became a problem. He was almost sure that it had more to do with the long distance that anything else. Once he'd put it up an rested it, the pain would ease and he could handle getting around the penthouse just fine. Which was great because he was eager to go pee by himself for the first time in what felt like forever. Standing up to boot. That was almost as exciting as getting to go alone. His bladder twinged at the thought. As such it was the first thing on his agenda when he got back. Going straight into the hall bathroom, closing the door and relieve himself without assistance before crawling into bed. 

By the time he'd finished up his business and laid himself down, Tony appeared in the doorway looking surprised. "You're staying in here?", Tony asked as he watched Peter adjust the pillows at the foot of the bed and prop up his still half-way casted leg.

"Mm-hmm. I'm kind of tired.", he lied but Tony saw though it.

Sighing he crossed the room and sat down at the edge of the large bed. "You know, that was a long walk. If it's sore, that's to be expected. You want some medicine?", he offered even though Peter wasn't taking the pills regularly anymore he tried to offer them whenever the boy seemed particularly quiet or stiff. "Maybe some ice?"

"Maybe some ice.", Peter conceded because he really didn't want to take a pill unless he had to. This was bearable at the moment and he didn't want the dulled senses and lethargy that came with the pain pills if he could handle it. However, when he flinched as Tony stood up and jostled the bed, he changed his mind. "Yeah, okay. Maybe, maybe half of one?"

"Sure, Buddy. What do you want to eat?", Tony asked with sympathy. After the whole dirty hair melt-down, he really thought that the kid would be in the bath the moment he set foot in the door. If he was choosing to lay down instead it must really hurt. Unwilling to make any sort of decision at the moment, Peter shrugged his shoulders, thus confirming Tony's suspicions about how much pain the boy was really in and set off to collect what he needed to get the kid comfortable again.

When Tony returned moment's later, Peter was in a slightly more upright position and ready to have the tray that had been prepared for him placed over his lap. Downing the pill first with a large gulp of water he slowly started into the ham sandwich the man had prepared for him. Once he was done, he looked over at Tony and sighed. "Have you heard anything else, Tony? From Captain Rogers, I mean."

"Not one singular word. Zilch, nada nothing.", Tony uttered in mild frustration. He knew they were working on it but not being involved left him anxious when communication lapsed for any amount of time and it had been several days since he'd received the last report. All he knew what that Natasha had successfully gotten her hands on some information and was in the process of getting herself 'hired' by the company.

"Are you worried?", Peter asked, somewhat taken aback by his mentor's snappy response. He hadn't meant to set him off. He thought it was a legitimate question.

"Of course, I'm worried!", Tony bit back. Though it wasn't directed at Peter in the least. He was just frustrated with the entire situation and he knew the kid was too. "We don't have any idea what this guy is capable of."

"I'm almost healed, Tony.", Peter said almost placatingly though his next words would likely piss Tony off more than calm him but that never crossed his mind. "I can be back in the field soon and then we'll be able to nail them down and--"

"--No! I've already said no. No way, no how. You are not getting involved.", Tony barked. At this point, his frustration _was_ being directed at Peter. He had no idea what made the kid think that he was ever going to change his mind about using him as live bait. "This guy's already handed your ass to you once and I'm not risking you getting taken."

Not feeling up to an argument, Peter stubbornly stuck out his chin and huffed as he adjusted himself down onto his pillows. Even at half the dose, the pain relief made him feel groggy. That being the case he dropped it for the time being. It wasn't like Tony could stop him once he was given the all-clear. He wouldn't dare take the suit again and Peter was just sneaky enough to get around whatever protocols he tried to put in place to stop him. He was about to drift off into a drug-induced sleep when he felt Tony's hand brush his still dirty hair back off of his forehead and he unintentionally leaned into the touch.

"You're wellbeing is worth so much more than catching this guy. I don't think I could handle it if he took you away from me.", he whispered as Peter slowly blinked back at him. "Damn it, kid. I love you, okay. I love you and I want you safe." Peter wanted to argue that he was perfectly capable of holding his own, especially with backup but he was too far gone at that point to get his voice to work. So, instead, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep, half-smiling at the idea that Tony Stark loved him. 

Peter floated in and out of sleep for a little over two hours before he pulled himself out of the bed to take a bath. limping into the bathroom, he couldn't stop smiling as he laid himself out a clean set of clothes, a towel and the small bottle of whatever over-priced shampoo, Tony kept stocked in the shower that stood in the corner of the large bathroom. Then once the tub was full he lowered himself in with a deep sigh, taking care to keep his casted leg hanging over the edge and then she slowly slid down until he was completely submerged. 

Typically he didn't really like being completely under the water. Words and sounds became muffled and he'd become all too used to hearing everything clearly but this time. It felt like heaven. He lay there under the water for as long as his lungs would allow before sitting up with a deep inhale. Then after soaking away the sweat and grime he drained the tub and turned on the faucet in order to really scrub his body and shampoo his hair. 

While Peter was in the bath, Tony was in his office attempting to track the others based on what little information he had. He was scanning surveillance around their last known point of interest and attempting a manual override to obtain access to the encrypted line, Natasha was using to contact Steve. He was just starting to get somewhere, or so he thought when FRIDAY began to demand his attention. "Boss, Steve Rogers, and James Rhodes are requesting access to the penthouse to speak with you. They say that it's imperative."

"Send them up.", Tony quickly returned as he tried to sort out at what point Rhodes had gotten involved. Steve hadn't mentioned that in his last report but if he was pulling more men on board then they had figured out something big. Something big enough that they felt the need to talk to him in person. His eyes immediately fell to the couch to talk to Peter when he remembered that the kid was no longer stationary and headed to his room. "Kid?", he called out when Peter wasn't in his bed and went to peek in the living room. 

Peter, who had just finished dressing, had heard the man call for him and could tell that whatever it was he wanted to see him about was important but he figured it could wait two minutes until he exited the bathroom. With that in mind he approached the toilet and lifted the seat, then at the exact moment that he'd relaxed and began to pee, Tony came through the door completely unannounced, causing Peter to startle just enough to pause his flow for half a second.

"What are you doing?", the man asked stupidly, mostly out of frustration, he could clearly see what the kid was doing but Steve was on his way up and he was anxious. 

"Um... peeing?", Peter replied as he finished emptying his bladder. He thought that would have been obvious considering he was... you know... still going when the man had busted in.

"Yeah okay, that was a stupid question.", Tony hurriedly amended followed by a rapid explanation. "Steve's on his way up with Rhodey. Whatever it is they want to talk about must be a big deal and I figured you would want to be there."

That was all it took to get Peter moving and he was soon limping his way out to the living room behind Tony. "What do you think it's about?", he asked with trepidation as he sat down beside his mentor. Like Tony, he had already surmised that a few days without any contact followed up by an in-person meeting wasn't likely to be good news. He just hoped no one else was hurt. 

"I don't know, Bud. I don't even know when They called Rhodey in. I have literally nothing to go on here.", he said as he tried to calm himself. Panicking wasn't likely to help anyone and if Peter saw him getting worked up, it would likely get him worked up as well. After a handful of deep breaths, he looked at the boy beside him and tried to smile. "We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

Peter nodded but didn't have time to say anything before Steve and Rhodey were in the door, looking back and forth between the pair before settling their gaze on Tony. "I don't know if he should be in here for this.", Steve said calmly despite the fact that he was feeling anything but.

"No, he can be here.", Tony said firmly. Partially because he knew the kid wouldn't leave and partially because he knew that even if he did, he would use his enhanced hearing to listen in anyway. "He's a part of this.", he added chancing a look at the boy beside him. Noting immediately that those words had caused him to sit up a little straighter and square his jaw with pride. 

Rhodey took a deep breath and looked at Tony with what almost appeared to be sympathy. "Are you sure, man? This could be, I don't know, sort of scary stuff for him to hear.", he said but Tony stood his ground and insisted that they say whatever they needed to say with Peter there. He was past hiding secrets from the kid. The more he knew the less stupid things he did to find out the information for himself. 

"Alright.", Steve said dutifully before looking towards Peter, making a point of speaking to him like a comrade rather than a child. "Natasha's learned a lot. So far we know that his name is Gideon Lerueson and--"

"--I'm sorry. Did you just say that his name is Gideon the Gruesome?", Tony interrupted because that had to be the worst villain name he'd ever heard and he'd heard more than his fair share. 

"No.", Rhodes clipped with a smile tugging at his lips despite the seriousness of the situation. "Leh-Roo-Son but you know what? I like it. From now on he's Gideon the Gruesome."

"If you two are done I have quite a bit more pertinent information to go over here.", Steve said with some amount of annoyance. He was fairly used to being interrupted every time he tried to speak but this was critical. When they all nodded he continued. "Anyway, This guy works for a company called BriteTech though his DNA research seems to be in the side. He's run test and done some experimentation in the office there, he's never documented anything and none of the higher-ups seem to know about any sort of DNA related projects. If they did, Natasha would know by now."

"Okay...", Tony drawled out. "That sounds like a good start. Why are we freaking out all of a sudden? What are you not telling us yet?"

"We may have tracked down his 'lair' for lack of a better term. It's definitely set up for what looks like medical experimentation and possibly hostages. The problem is, he only seems to have eyes on one person at the time being.--"

"--Me.", Peter said before Stever could finish. "He's waiting for me."

"Yes, Peter and here's the scary part that Rhodes was talking about. Peter, he's still watching you. He knows you're here."

"This place is safe. FRIDAY watches everything and the penthouse has bulletproof glass for God's sake. You can't possibly be worried about that."

"They know his identity, Tony. They know his association with you and the Avengers. We don't even know how he's stalking him here but he has information written down on scraps of paper everywhere. He knows that Peter is staying with you. He knows exactly what his injuries are and he knows about his healing factor. He's waiting for the moment the kid gets well enough to walk out of the building."

"So he stays in here until you get him!", Tony shouted. At the moment he couldn't quite see what the issue was. They had information on his kid and knew where he was but so what? He was safe inside that building. All Tony he had to do was keep the kid in it.

"Or... you take him somewhere else.", Rhodes gently suggested. It was clear to him that Tony wasn't seeing the problem yet.

"Where could I take him that's safer than being here?", Tony almost laughed. That tower had been built with state of the art everything. Nowhere else in the world compared to it. 

"Somewhere that he can't keep getting information on him. Tony.", Steve said with more irritation than was probably necessary but he was worried. They all were. If this guy got his hands on Peter he'd probably kill him. "Do you not get it? He's not safe here. This guy learning more and more about Peter even while he's been inside these walls. We don't know how he's doing it. We don't know if he can get in, if he's hacked into your surveillance or what. We have no idea."

Suddenly acutely aware of what the two other men had been implying Tony's heart began to race. "Then what's your plan because if I tell you where I'm taking him then, according to your intel, they'll figure out.", he said, already trying to sort out where he could take the kid that would be the furthest away from the psychopath. 

"I guess you'll just stay here, then.", Steve said casually as he handed over a cryptic note. Though Tony seemed to be able to decode it quickly as he scanned it no more than three times before he was looking over at Peter and then back at the two other men in the room. 

"Wha--"Peter started but Tony cut him off quickly not only with his words but with a very firm squeeze to the boy's knee. Thankfully the kid was able to take the hint and keep his mouth shut.

"--That could work. Staying here I mean. We'll just be more careful.", Tony said a little more loudly than was probably nessesary. His brain was already in overdrive coming up with a plan on the best way to execute said plan. 

"Alright, well, we'll be hanging around for a while and then taking off around eight. Stay safe.", Rhodes said as he urged Tony to stand up so that he could hug him. Under any other circumstances, Tony would have balked at the action but he had a feeling that this was strategic and not friendly so he allowed it to happen. His suspicions were confirmed when he felt another piece of paper being slipped into his back pocket and an extremely small burner phone into his hand when Steve shook it before walking out the door. This was getting serious.

Once they were gone, Tony went about as if nothing had happened and Peter was beginning to internally freak out a little. Not because he was sacred as the others had so rudely suspected he would be but because there was some sort of plan in place that involved him and he had no idea what it was. He couldn't even ask about it because clearly an explanation was out of the question. 

Tony spent the next hour casually adjusting FRIDAY's code. Carefully and casually beginning the process that would allow him to cut ties with the broad system once they were to safty. Then he began surreptitiously doing things like slipping several of Peter's pills into his pocket, switching his watch for the one that secretly housed a repulser glove and handing Peter a watch, telling him that he'd found it laying around again. Knowing he didn't actually own a watch like the one his mentor was holding out to him, Peter simply thanked him and placed it on his wrist. 

By the time eight o'clock rolled around, Tony suggested that they go see the others off and started out the door towards the top of the building where not one but three small jets were waiting. It was then, that Peter was able to finally put it all together. They weren't really going to stay there. They were running and it made him feel unreasonably annoyed. Soon Steve and Rhodes showed up and they all made a show of saying good0bye one more time before Tony was dragging Peter into one of the other planes. Then the second the door closed, the jet took off causing Peter to stumble, since the stupid cast didn't allow him to stick to the floor but thankfully Tony caught him. "You're alright.", he said as he did so.

"Where are we going.", Peter asked, assuming that now he could finally get some actual answers. He knew he sounded grumpy but the long hurried walk combined with the near-fall had his leg aching again and the last thing he wanted at the moment was to take anything for it.

Sighing tiredly, Tony took a seat adjacent to Peter and encouraged him to prop his leg up on the seat beside him. "Malibu. I have a mansion there that's miles from civilization. I stayed there once for a couple of weeks but that was several years ago."

"I thought that mansion blew up.", Peter replied in question. He'd seen numerous videos and interviews about that in the past and he just sort of assumed it had never been rebuilt.

Laughing lightly, Tony looked at the boy beside him. "Do I look like a guy who only owns one mansion?", he asked with mirth, desperately trying to ease the tension that was filling the small plane.

Peter, on the other hand, did not see the amusement. "Whatever.", he groused in return. 

"Are you going to be mad at me for the entire flight because let me just tell you that even with my tech it's going to be a long ride.", Tony asked with a sigh when the kid's mood didn't change with the gentle teasing. However, Peter seemed perfectly content to avoid his question in favor of asking another of his own.

"Where are the other planes going?"

Leaning his head back on the seat, Tony resigned himself to a long flight with a less than happy teenager. It never occurred to him that it might because he was hurting again. He was still heavily focused on getting the hell out of dodge. "One is going to Canada and the other is going to loop around Main and come back to New York. This one is stopping in Kansas, where we'll slip onto another plane with two more decoys. The same will happen in Canada. Three more decoy planes." 

"What about Aunt May? Is she safe?", he asked once his curiosity was satisfied. He was sure she must be. Tony would never allow any harm to come to her either. He was certain of it. 

"She's safe, kiddo. Barton's been keeping an eye on your building and Happy will be with her while we're away. The man has shown no interest in the apartment since you've been with me though. He's only interested in you."

Peter nodded his head and fell mostly silent until they switched panes. At that point, he tried to casually ask if the man had happened to pack any of his medication and was relieved to find out that he had. He was almost certain that all of this running around had not been on Dr. Banners approved activities list but at this point it was nessesary and he was happy that Tony had thought to grab some of his medication. After taking it he was content to sleep until time to get into the car.


	4. Chapter 4

It was nearly two in the morning New York time when they got into the car and started what Peter would later find out was going to be an hour and a half drive to the house. He wasn't near as sore anymore but he was still a bit drowsy but despite that, he was wide awake because he really needed to pee. He didn't say anything about it. There was no reason too. They hadn't passed anything, save for a few houses and a closed corner store since leaving the airport. When Tony had said the mansion was away from civiliation he'd meant it.

When Tony noticed Peter huffing and sighing beside him he felt the urge to once again try and justify himself. "Look, Kid, I know you're not happy with this plan but this is what the grown-ups have decided, so deal with it. Everything's fine. You're going to fine."

"Well, my bladder is telling me otherwise.", Peter grumbled under his breath but Tony heard him all the same. 

"Do you need me to pull over?", Tony asked as he looked beside him to see how serious the kid was being. He did look uncomfortable.

"Where?", Peter nearly snapped. There was literally nowhere to pull over too. They hadn't even passed a house in the last twenty minutes. "There's nothing here!"

"Exactly.", Tony chuckled. "I can pull over to the side and you can piss by the car. No harm, no foul."

"Don't be gross", Peter groused as he crossed his legs and continued to stare out the window. Not that he's said it the pressure seemed to have increased tenfold.

Rolling his eyes, Tony smiled. "What's gross? That I used the word 'piss' or that I suggested you do it by car?"

"Both.", Peter curtly replied before easing up on his tone. He wasn't trying to get in trouble at the moment. "How much further is it?"

"Ten minutes or so but then I need to get FRIDAY Set up and have her sweep the house before we go in. That'll take another five to ten from the driveway.", Tony carefully explained. He really didn't want to end up with a wet seat. Of course, even if they got there and the kid decided that he couldn't hold it anymore he could just as easily piss in his front yard. One of the many benefits of having no neighbors. Even he'd taken a leak by the driveway a few times when he'd been too desperate or too lazy to wait until he got inside. "You good for that?"

"Mm-hmm", Peter agreed because he was fairly sure he was. He didn't need to go quite as bad as he had that day he'd basically wet his pants in the bathroom and he'd had far less to drink.

"If you change your mind, let me know. I'll pull over or you can pee in the yard when we get there. No big deal.", Tony offered rolling his eyes once more when Peter continued to glare at him. He wasn't sure what the hang-up was. It wasn't like anyone would be watching. 

Despite the offer, Peter managed to hold it in all the way there and for the entire ten minutes that they sat in the driveway while Tony finished what he'd started in the penthouse and made sure that FRIDAY inside the mansion had no connections with his phone, his office or any of this other residences. Though he spent the entire time making several attempts to get him to just pee in the yard. "I swear to God, just go pee in the grass. You fidgeting like that is making me need to take a leak."

"Then you pee in the grass.", Peter mumbled under his breath almost hoping that he would because then he wouldn't feel so awkward about it. Then the moment Tony gave the okay he darted towards th front door and danced from foot to foot as he waited for the man to get the door unlocked. The grandeur of the lights systematically coming on, illuminating the large entryway and living area probably would have been far more impressive if his bladder wasn't about to explode. Then to make things worse, Tony decided to start talking FRIDAY rather than give him directions to the nearest toilet. He was of half a mind to just wet the floor in protest but of course he would never do that on purpose. "Tony! Where's the bathroom?", he whined instead.

"Oh! I think it's down that hall over there. I can't remember if it's the second or third door... just check all of them.", Tony replied. He hadn't been there in so long he legitimately had no idea which door it was but he was nearly certain it was that hall. "Hang on I'll ask FRI--"

At the vague instructions, Peter growled in frustration and made an extremely unsavory decision. "--I'm going back outside.", he declared before darting through the front door and relieving his bladder through the railing, down onto the bushes below, Tony laughing at him the entire time. "Shut up, it's not funny.", Peter said as he continued to heavily spray down what was probably some very expensive landscaping. However, by the time he tucking himself back in, the urgency had passed and he could see the humor in it.

After that, with FRIDAY's assistance, Tony was able to reorient himself and find his own bedroom before pointing Peter towards the guestroom across the hall. It wasn't as big as the one in the penthouse but it didn't matter because all he wanted to do was sleep. In fact, he was already completely knocked out when Tony came in moments later carrying a small stack of clothes for the kid to borrow until they could order something else. 

Laying the items on the dresser, Tony leaned over and the bed and brushed the boy's hair out of his face. "Good-night kiddo.", he said before smiling fondly and giving into the words that were itching to come out of his mouth. "I love you." After that, he went back into his own room to get some sleep of his own. Yet he didn't get to sleep for long before the burner phone was ringing incessantly in his ear. "What!", he shouted in the phone still half asleep.

"Tony!", Steve frantically called into the phone. "We lost him. He's completely off the grid. We think he knows where you are. You need to get out of there. You need to get back to New York."

"We just fucking got here and I've slept all of maybe four hours. I'm not going anywhere until you have solid proof that we're actually in some kind of danger.", Tony griped as he rolled over onto his back, never bothering to take his head off of his pillow. 

"Tony please, just get back here. We'll send a plane to your location. I'm telling you this is bad.", Steve pleaded and just as Tony was about to chew him out again for calling him so damn early in the morning with no real proof, he froze. FRIDAY had started to alert him of something only to be cut off before she could utter a single word and that should not happen. Ever. 

"Shit.", he uttered under his breath as dread filled his entire body. There was no reason for FRIDAY to go out at the moment. This particular house was run on arc technology and FRIDAY's code was perfect. 

"What do you mean shit? Shit what, Tony?", Steve asked with concern deep enough to ignore the man's choice in words. 

"Shit, I think you're right. It might be too late for that plane. I'm going get the kid up. We'll figure it out as we go along.", Tony rapidly explained before closing the phone and shoving it into the pocket of the sweat pants he's slipped on before bed. He could call him back after he knew what the hell was happening but first, he needed to go get Peter. Get him up and keep him close. That was as far as the plan had gotten before he was across the hall and shaking the boy awake "Kid. Pete, wake up. We need to go."

Blinking owlishly up at Tony, Peter rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Hmm? ...but I'm still tired, Mr. Stark... Tony.", he said before clutching the sheet and bringing it back up tightly under his chin. It would have been cute if Tony wasn't in so much of a panic a the moment.

"I know, kiddo but we need to get going, alright?", Tony said as he bit back the fondness that was tugging directly at his soul. "Can you get up for me please, Buddy?"

Ever obedient, Peter sluggishly began to sit up and toss the blankets aside. "I need to pee first.", he said as he stretched his arms over his head and scratched at his side and just under the split on his wrist. 

"Can you hold it?", Tony asked still trying to contain the majority of his concern. He didn't know if the kid really needed to go or if it was purely a waking habit but he was almost sure he saw a shadow by the window that didn't belong but then again it was still very dark. 

"Are we in trouble?", Peter asked, now awake just enough to be able to read his mentor's posture. That and him asking if he could wait when there was a bathroom not even ten feet from him seemed a bit odd.

Realizing that he'd blown his casual cover, not that it was that good, to begin with, Tony sighed. "You know what, go ahead and go pee. Hurry up though, yeah?", he said calmly. It was fine. The bathroom was right there and there was only one way in and out. That particular bathroom didn't even have a window. With permission now granted, Peter ambled across the room and into the ensuite to take his morning pee, the sound of water hitting the water echoing through the room. Which much to Tony's dismay, made his own bladder twinge. That was going to have to wait, though. There was no way he was going to ask the kid to cover his back under any circumstances. It was his job to do the protecting. 

When Peter returned looked fully awake with concern wrinkled across his brow, Tony let him in on the early morning phone call and the way FRIDAY had just shut down. From there he proceeded to show Peter how to tap the face of the watch to form a web-shooter, warning that there was only a very limited amount of web fluid stored that way, so he needed to use it wisely. Peter almost asked if he should put on his whole suit on before remembering that he couldn't. He was still in a cast and even though he was sure he could rip it right off with his super-strength he didn't. It would hurt and he wasn't sure his leg would hold him without the added support. 

Next on Tony's agenda was to make sure the kid ate, he could try and restart FRIDAY as he did so and then they would head towards the lab where he could get a suit and sort through everything. He was on edge but Peter's spider-sense seemed to be quite so he tried very hard to rely on that. "Get your shoes, we're going to the kitchen."

Once they got there Tony started digging through the cabinets, pulling out a half-empty box of instant cream of wheat and an unopened jar of preserves. "I thought you hadn't been here in years?", Peter asked as he looked skeptically at the meal Tony was throwing together.

"I haven't. Pepper stays here when she's in California for business.", he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He sort of expected that to be the end of that discussion but this was Peter he was talking to so, of course, it wasn't. 

"I thought you two broke up or something.", Peter replied with some amount of confusion. 

"We did.", Tony answered in a curt tone that he hoped would end the conversation. He was already antsy due to their current circumstances and now the kid wanted to talk about his love life? 

"Then why does she stay in your house?", Peter asked innocently despite the fact that he could tell he was touching a nerve.

Sighing heavily, Tony slid the warm bowl of hot cereal across the table along with a spoon and the jar of preserves. If nothing else that gave him time to come up with a good response to that question. Not that he owed the kid any kind of response but for some reason, he felt very defensive about it at the moment. "...because we... I... It's complicated. Actually you know what? It's really not. She's the CEO of my company it makes sense for me to allow her to use the home that I never stay in while she's here on business. Not that I really owe you any sort of explanation..."

"Touchy subject, huh?", Peter asked cheekily as he began to stir some jam into his bowl. Seeing Tony so perturbed was almost entertaining. 

Glaring in the kid's direction, Tony picked up his phone and started to rapidly typing something into it. "Shut up and eat your cream of wheat"

"Are you going to eat anything?", Peter asked. He knew Tony was anxious and worried but honestly, he couldn't figure out why. As far as he could tell nothing was wrong. His sixth sense was usually extremely reliable and it was quiet at the moment. Very quiet. He felt perfectly safe despite Tony's general antsy behavior. 

"Not right now, I need to get FRIDAY back up and running.", Tony sighed out but when he saw a look of further concern cross Peter's face he amended. "I'll grab a can of pineapple juice on the way down to the lab or something. Hurry up. I have no idea how much time we have until... something. If anything. I don't even know."

After several failed attempts to reboot FRIDAY in the mansion, Tony practically dragged Peter down into the lab. He kept an assortment of old suits there and he was more than ready to suit up. Not only allowing him to better protect the kid but giving him access to the AI and the AI's scanning capabilities. However, the moment he engaged the most current Mark available, Peter was grabbing him by the arm. Tony?", he questioned with fear in his tone, as he quickly stumbled towards him. "Something coming."

The moment those words fell out of the kid's mouth the room went dark. Peter continued to relentingly cling to Tony's bicep thus preventing him from engaging the suit but after only a matter of seconds, he felt hands on his shoulders yanking him backward. Away from the safty of the suit and away from Peter. He was just about to open his mouth to tell the kid to run when he heard his name being shouted from across the room. Which made no sense because moments before Peter had been right beside him. 

"Tony!", Peter shouted as a heavy hand grabbed him by his injured arm. Something that shouldn't have even been possible. When Peter's spider-senses were in control, his reflexes became instant. He could move on instinct alone. It was rare for anyone to be able to outmaneuver him. 'Gideon, mutated DNA, we're in trouble...', ran through his head as he attempted to fight back but even his superhuman strength was nothing against whatever strand of DNA the scientist was using at the moment. Then suddenly he felt a sharp jabbing pain the back of his neck and everything went black. 

"Kid! Shit!", Tony shouted when he heard the boy gasp. There wasn't much he could do. He was trying. God, he was trying but it felt as though there were at least two sets of hands on him at the moment. "Peter!", he managed to choke out before he too, felt a sharp pain and fell into darkness. 

When he woke up next, the first thing he was aware of was the excoriating pain in his wrists and shoulders where he'd been limply hanging from a set of cuffed chains that held him to a wall. It took him a few moments to get his legs to function well enough to hold him up, easing the pain enough that he could further evaluate his situation. The room was well lit, one camera in the corner, no windows, one door...no Peter. "Where's my kid!", he bellowed. No answer. "Where the fuck is my kid!", he screamed again only to be further ignored. At this point, he wasn't even sure they could hear him. He needed a plan, he needed to think but at this point, he didn't even know where he was, let alone where Peter was. He didn't even know the time of day or how many captors he was up against. "Fuck", he uttered quietly as he willed himself to calm.

Taking several deep breaths Tony tried to rationalize. He tried to think back and count the number of hands that had grabbed a hold of him. Hoping that would give him a vague number but then he realized that for all he knew it could have been one man with multiple arms. He wasn't quite sure what this Gideon character was capable of at this point. But there had been at least two. One pulling Peter away from him and one pulling him away from the suit. Gideon wasn't working alone. That was clear. Then before he could get any further he was struck by another staggering realization. He must have been out for hours because it wasn't just his arms and shoulders that were aching. His bladder was screaming as well.

He was just trying to decide what he was supposed to do about that when the door flung open and tall, muscular man with indeed, several additional arms came through fighting. It didn't take long to see who he was fighting. He'd recognize that head of red hair anywhere but she wasn't dressed as an agent at the moment. She was wearing business attire. Meaning that she'd still been working undercover and had since been figured out.

"Here you go, Stark. I brought you a little friend to keep you company.", the man hissed as he dodged yet another round of what should have been perfectly timed kicks from Natasha before roughly chaining her to Tony's right. "I assume you two already know each other so I'll skip the introductions. We seemed to have some sort of 'rat' problem in the vents that I need to investigate."

"Where the hell are we!", Tony shouted towards his teammate who was looking beyond pissed. Being captured wasn't something she typically had to deal with. Her technique could be considered perfect on her worst day. "...and where's my kid!"

"We're in New York!", Natasha snapped as he fiddled around with the metal cuffs like she could sort out how to free herself from them if she studied them hard enough. "I have no idea where Peter is for sure but I have speculations."

New York made sense. Of course, they would want them back in New York. That also explained why his bladder was so damn full that he was sure it was about to burst. "Who else knows where we are?", he questioned, trying to figure out when they would be getting out of there. When he could get Peter out of there. He needed to get the kid away from this place unharmed. That was his priority but he couldn't think straight and he wasn't sure if it was the residual drugs in his system or the fact that he was trying so hard not to piss himself. Natasha didn't get to answer before the door was busting open once again. This time the with the same man dragging clint in by the collar. 

"We seem to have a bit of a pest problem.", he said sounding pleased with himself while he strung Clint to the wall on Tony's other side.. "...so we flushed the entire system out." Then as quickly adding his newest hostage to the wall at Tony's left. Clint slowly coming to, looking around the room in obvious confusion.

"Where the fuck...", he said words trailing as he noticed he wasn't alone. "Fuck. They figured you out, huh?"

"Obviously.", Natasha snapped but realizing that now wasn't the time for an argument, she turned her attention towards Tony. "We still have Steve and Rhodes in the field. They know where we are and surely at this point know what they're up against. I assume Steve is trying to contact SHIELD for backup. Bruce is on stand-by. I don't know much else. I lost contact about seven hours ago. Probably about the same time you were taken"

"Where's my kid.", Tony repeated once more but this time it was more of a whimper than a demand. Between the worry that was eating him up and th pressure on his bladder, he couldn't bring himself to yell. "I just want to find my kid and get out of here.

"We'll get him, Tony. We'll get him.", Clint assured with sympathy. The last time he'd seen Tony he'd given him a hard time about acting like the kid's dad. He hadn't realized until that moment that maybe it wasn't an act. The man wasn't just anxious to save Spider-man he was distraught at the possibility of losing Peter. 

Nothing else was said for nearly twenty minutes. Twenty agonizing minutes where none of them knew what was happening. Tony continued to periodically tug at his bindings. He needed out. He needed to piss. All he had to do was figure out how to get free. He was already scanning the room for a good place to relieve himself the moment he was liberated but at this point, he would blissfully empty his bladder just about anywhere that wasn't his pants. Then the next thing he knew the door was opening again, fear dropped into his stomach as a few drops of piss leaked out into his underwear. If they came in there with an incapacitated with Cap and Rhodes then they were fucked but that didn't seem to be the case. In fact, it was a different man altogether. One Natasha seemed to recognize.

"What do you want from us Gideon.", she spat. Literally spat causing Tony to smile despite his unease. 

"I don't want anything from you. I wanted to have a chat with Stark here, that's all.", the man asked calmly, professionally. It was almost creepy. "How are you doing?"

Glaring, Tony tugged with all his might at the chains. "I need to piss...", he shouted, ignoring the, no doubt, incredulous looks the two field agents beside him were probably giving him because he did, desperately. So desperately that it was the first thing that came out of his mouth, despite the nauseating worry that was clawing at his stomach, wondering where his kid was. "...and I want my kid!"

"You're kid, is he? Interesting, our DNA testing relieved no such association.", the man comment casually. Clearly ignoring Tony's initial plea. "He's doing great by the way. A real trooper. Slept through most of it. We did have to re-dose him a couple of times, his metabolism really is amazing."

"What do you want from him?", Tony whined, "He's just a kid." 

The man laughed. He legitimately laughed and if Tony wasn't so adamantly tensing his muscles in order to hold back his urine and save his dignity, he would have screamed so loud that the entire state of New York could hear him. "He's not just a kid and you know it. He's special. So very special. You see his mutation... it wasn't born to him it was given and we want to unlock that secret. If we can bottle what he has, then think of the possibilities--"

"Enhanced soldiers? Is that's your play?", Clint snapped gaining the villain's attention. "Because frankly, I think we all seen how well that shit works out. Winter Soldier Program the Centiped Project... any of that sound familiar?"

"Shut up, pest.", the man bit back, no longer clinging to his gentle demeanor. "The only reason we're keeping the three of you alive is that we'll need test subjects once our research is complete. Then there will be no need to have you around and we'll destroy you just like we will destroy the kid when he's no longer of use.", the man said glaring between them before dropping back to his nearly hospitable tone. "Speaking of the kid. I need to get back. It's time for round two I believe. ...and Stark... try not to piss on my floor, would you?

The second the door clicked behind the scientist, Tony dropped his chin to his chest. The man had said 'round two', indicating that they'd already done something to his kid. Something no doubt painful and traumatizing. He hoped the asshole had been telling the truth when he said that Peter had slept through the majority of it. That being said the amount of drugs that would take was frightening in its self. It had taken him and Bruce months to get a class of drugs that worked on the kid perfected. He was pulled from his thought by Clint calling his name.

"Tony!", clint shouted once more, this time earning eye contact from the billionaire. "Steve's on his way."

"How do you know.", Tony hissed through his teeth, hoping to hear that the man had somehow managed to retain some sort of communication after capture. He seemed to have been stripped of everything. His phone, the burner phone, his glasses, and shoes... his watch...

"I just do.", Clint assured from a distance. "...and Personally? I would be sure to piss all over his damn floor."

"Shut up.", Tony replied quietly. Even the word piss at this point was enough to send shock waves of desperation through him causing him to leak a little bit more. He was at the end of his rope and the worst part was he knew he was going to end up wetting himself. Despite the fact that Natasha and Clint were right. Even if they got free he would be of no use until he was empty. Yet, he felt the desire to keep holding. His breathing stuttered with need. Each breath sounding as though it would end him until one of them did. His breath hitched in his throat as his bladder began to rapidly empty without his permission. He could feel the gushing heat coating his thighs and splashing... _splashing_, onto the cement below him. Then to add insult to injury, the very moment he'd lost control, the door was blasted open and in walked Captian fucking America just in time to watch as he pissed himself. Fuck, his bladder couldn't have just held it for five more minutes?

The room was silent save for the echoing sound of liquid rapidly pooling on the floor. Steve trying to advert his eyes and Tony trying to remember how to breathe. His head was swimming with a combination of unadulterated relief and intense fear for his child's life. It made his thoughts fuzzy. He knew he was still pissing all over himself and the floor but there was nothing he could do. Taking a deep shuddering breath, he finished what he'd started while pretending that he hadn't been moments from being rescued. Then, in true Stark fashion, the moment his torrent slowed to a trickling stop he lifted his head and pretended as if nothing had happened. "Where's my kid, Cap?"

Still in a minor shock from having walked in on the billionaire, uncontrollability wetting himself, Steve had to force his voice to remain as even and professional as possible. Clearly Tony didn't want to acknowledge the elephant... puddle... in the room. Not that he blamed him. He wouldn't either. Just based on the sheer volume alone, he knew the release had to have been outside of the man's control. "Rhodey's gone to fetch him.", Steve answered the moment his brain cleared. "Bruce is outside waiting to look him over as soon as possible and SHIELD is here to sweep the building. I'm here to get your guys out of here.", he said before taking a deep breath. "Our orders are to shoot at will, aim to kill."

"Oh, I'll kill 'em alright.", Tony seethed. With his bladder no longer so full that he could practically taste it, the anger could flow that much more freely. "Get me loose. I need to find my kid!" 

Within Moments, Tony, Clint and Natasha were all free and rearmed. Tony was still without a suit but at least he had a gun now and that was going to have to be good enough but God he wished he had a suit. His now saturated sweat pants were cooling and sticking uncomfortably to his legs, the stain would be obvious to anyone they came across. Clearly he'd pissed himself. However, he pushed that aside for the time being, he had a mission. To find his kid and kill the bastards to dared to take him. "Which way?"

"The exit's this way.", Steve said as he motioned for them to follow.

"No.", Tony growled. "Which way to my kid? I'm not leaving without him."

"No, you're not.", Steve placated but he knew how this was going to end. Tony wasn't going to walk outside that building empty-handed. "Rhodey's getting him out. We'll all meet up outside."

"Fuck that shit. I'm going to get my kid myself.", Tony shouted as he looked down the multiple hallways now knowing what leads where. "Which way?"

resigning himself to the fact that there would be no stopping Tony from doing things his way, Steve handed over a second gun and pointed the man in the right direction. "To the right and down the flight of stairs. You can't miss it, there are windows." 

At those words Tony took off running, only hesitating at the corners so that he could make sure he wasn't about to run into any more psychopaths without warning. He didn't know what theses guns were loaded with but he sure hoped it was something that could kill the mutated monsters. Then before he knew it he was in front of the windows that Steve had mentioned. He could see Peter naked and stretched out across a sheet lined table still out cold. He couldn't decide how he felt about that part of it. Part of him was glad the boy wasn't able to register what was going on but at the same time, he was terrified that he wouldn't wake up. Thank God, he didn't have time to dwell on it before he spotted Rhodey.

"Tony? What are you doing here and what happened to your--", his friend started the second he'd lifted his faceplate, eyes obviously trained on Tony's drenched bottom half. 

"--It's been a very long day and I've been chained to a wall for most of it. I don't want to talk about it, let's just get my kid.", Tony rapidly clipped through gritted teeth. There were far more important things to talk about than the state of his pants. Like, what the plan was.

"Alright, alright.", Rhodes offered in surrender. It really wasn't the time to be asking anyway. They still had a job to do. A very important job. "There are two men in there with him and --"

"--good we'll spit the job and then I'll get Pete.", Tony said essenially cutting the other man off as readied his weapons. 

Rhodes looked at Tony questioningly. He knew that the man had gotten attached to the kid but what he was offering sounded unreasonable. The kid was a teenager and had to weight, at minimum a hundred and thirty pounds. He was nearly as tall as Tony was. "Can you carry him without a suit? He's not exactly a toddler, Tony..."

"I've got him!", Tony snapped. He didn't care if he pulled his back and couldn't walk for an entire month after. He was getting Peter out of there himself. 

Rhodes only nodded his head and held out his hand, ready to blast through the glass door. "We'll go on three"

...and go they did. Rhodes busted the glass and that seemed to take the two guards by surprise allowing Tony to get a bullet inside of his target's head. It struck him that Peter would have preferred they not kill his captors but they had no choice. These men knew too much. So he pushed that aside in order to evaluate the room. Peter was surrounded by needles that had contained God knows what and he had multiple small incisions across his exposed abdomen. The cast on his leg had been removed, the leg obviously rebroke and it made Tony's heartbreak. The second the coast was clear he started to wrap Peter up in the sheet he'd been laid out on, making a point of grabbing one empty and one half depressed syringe that had been scattered on the table beside him to give to Bruce for evaluation. Then after engaging the safty, he tucked the two guns into his waistband and scooped Peter up. Rhodey's concerns had not been misplaced. The kid was heavy. Well, not really so much heavy as he was awkward to hold but he managed. 

Being practically manhandled was enough to cause Peter's eyes to flutter open long before they had even exited the room much to Tony's relief. "Hey, Kiddo. Having kind of a bad day, huh?", he asked quietly as he waited for Rhodes to give the all-clear for them to move forward. 

"Everything hurts Mr. Stark!", Peter said through gritted teeth as he arched his back almost causing Tony to lose his grip. "Make it stop!" Readjusting his arms, Tony tried to pull Peter in a bit more closely but that only seemed to make the boy writhe with further pain. "Put me down! Please!", he cried, causing Tony to do just that. She sat on the floor and held Peter in his lap, feeling only slightly self-conscious at the fact that said lap was still very wet with his own piss. 

"Rhodey...", Tony uttered towards his friend who was already calling for some sort of back up. Then looking back at Peter he had to take a deep breath to keep his own emotions at bay. "I'm so sorry, Buddy but we've got to get you out of here."

Peter nodded because he had enough wits about him to know that they needed to get out of there but that didn't make it hurt any less. So he bit down on the sheet that Tony had him wrapped up in and gave the man the okay to lift him again. Crying out only once as Tony got to his feet. After that, he tried to allow himself to relax in his mentor's arms. They were nearly to the door when Peter spoke again. "I need you to put me down.", he strained through his teeth.

However, at that same moment, they came face to face with Gideon, only this time he'd taken on a newly mutated form and was taking up nearly half of the hallway. We're not done with him.", he shouted as he lunged towards Tony who then stumbled backward into a wall causing Peter to shout. Rhodey was trying to take the man out with his repulsors but they didn't seem to be phasing him. 

Tony'd had the wind knocked out of him and was trying to shake his head clear. Because of that, he couldn't hear his friend shouting at him. "I'm out of that ammo, Tony, shoot the gun. You have to shoot the gun!", Rhodes shouted but before the words could really sink in, Tony heard shots fired and looked blankly at Peter who was sitting in his lap where he'd slid down the wall upon impact. The kid had his eyes shut and was holding one of the guns Tony'd had tucked into the band of his sweat pants. Glancing to the side he could see Gideon laying on the ground with wounds to his left leg and torso. It took far to long to register that Peter, Peter who was so anti-gun that he'd tried to refuse Tony to teaching him how to load one, had taken the shots. 

"Peter.", He finally gasped once he was back to himself enough to realize that the boy was crying. Maybe from pain, maybe from remorse, maybe from both. He wasn't sure yet. All he knew was that they needed to get out of there. "I'm picking you back up, Pete. Brace yourself.", he said before doing just that. It was then that he realized why Peter had wanted to be put down earlier. At some point in the last minute or so the kid had completely pissed himself or was currently doing so. All he knew was that there was a renewed warm wetness to his legs and this time it wasn't from him. 

No longer able to hold back his emotions, Peter went from silently crying to sobbing. "I'm sorry.", Peter cried as he tipped his head back over Tony's arm and squirmed in discomfort, unknowingly making himself that much harder to hold.

"Sorry for what, Buddy?", Tony asked as he darted Past the agents who were now flooding the area and in the process of incapacitating the injured scientist. 

"Everything.", Peter breathed out with so much raw emotion that it made Tony's heart clench.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Bud. You did what you needed to do to keep us alive.", Tony assured as peter's breath hitched. "You did great.", was the last thing out of his mouth before handing the kid over and into Bruce's trustworthy care. Once he was certain that Peter was, not only in good hands but also not panicking, he skidded off towards the Avenger's jet to try and find some sort of dry clothing. Thankfully no-one questioned it. In fact, anyone who wasn't there to witness his lack of self-control, just assumed it was Peter's pee alone that was all over his pants. It took him less than thirty minutes to get himself dressed and back to Bruce's side. "How's he doing?"

"He's calm. I've got him cleaned up and on some of his pain meds.", Bruce calmly explained as he continued to look back and forth between all of the different screens in front of him. "The drugs they had him on were just heavy pain killers. Not made to suit his metabolism so they had to have been injecting it constantly to keep him out. The incisions are shallow. I cleaned them out and they should start healing as soon as his body has the energy and calories to handle it. He said he hasn't eaten anything since breakfast with you so I've got him on an IV with some glucose to help with that. I'm going to have to reset and re-cast the leg to the thigh as soon as we get back. Sorry."

Tony nodded his head and swallowed. "Thanks, Bruce. Thanks for everything."

"It's my pleasure.", Bruce said with a smile before gesturing towards the lightly sleeping boy. "Now go see your kid. He's been asking for you."


	5. Chapter 5

Tony slowly approached Peter's side, thankful to see that he was no longer crying. He still looked exhausted and disheveled but that was to be expected. "Hey, kid. I heard you've been asking for me.", he said softly causing Peter to open his eyes and smile back at him. From there, Tony wasn't sure what he expected the kid to say but the next words out of his mouth took him so off guard that he laughed. He genuinely laughed and it felt so good because he'd been so sure that after everything he'd just witnessed that he would never be able to laugh again. 

"I peed on you.", Peter said with unmistakable guilt in his voice. Even so, Tony continued to laugh so hard that had to wipe away a tear. Of all the things the kid should be worried about at the moment. That's what he chose to focus on? 

Finally, catching his breath, Tony ran his hand through Peter's sweaty hair. "Yeah? Well, I did too, so there's that."

"Wh-what?", Peter asked with confusion. He knew he'd had a lot of drugs in his system and that Bruce had just given him even more but he was pretty sure Tony had just admitted to wetting himself and that didn't seem right. 

"You heard me and I'm not repeating it. Let's just say, I could really use a shower right about now.", Tony replied with mirth, shaking his head when Peter's eyes went wide with understanding, huffing a small breathy laugh of his own before going silent again.

"Is May okay?", he asked after several moments of quiet thought.

"May's fine.", Tony readily replied though in all honesty, he had no idea. No one had told him otherwise so he stuck with it, making a mental note to ask Steve as soon as possible.

That seemed to be enough to quiet Peter's mind as he nodded and closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them. "Can I sleep?"

"Of course, Buddy.", Tony said gentlyand the moment he was sure the kid was out he stepped out of the medical plane in order to locate the agent in charge. Once he had there was no holding back. "Where is he? He's dead right? You finished him off?"

"...We need him for questioning.", The lead agent replied without any sort of real emotion. 

"No, we need him dead. He knows my kid's secrets.", Tony asserted with his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't back down from this. It wouldn't even be a discussion if he'd been the one firing the gun. Unlike Peter, he wasn't a good person. He would have aimed for the head. Then again, he wasn't sure Peter had truly aimed at all but the sentiment stood. He would have killed him.

The agent smiled back, surprising Tony greatly. He wasn't sure what he had to be smiling about. "He'll be taken care of by SHIELD. I assure you.", he said in such a way that Tony was quick to pick up on the fact that the man wouldn't be kept around long after he was dry of information. 

"Along with all of his research, I presume?", Tony returned assuming the agency wouldn't want that sort of research to fall into any other hands. Not even their own. 

"Of course.", The man replied without question and was about to turn away when Tony reached out to grab him by the shoulder. 

"Anything of Peter's is to come to me. Only me. It's confidential beyond SHIELD, do you hear me?", Tony firmly stated. He wanted to destroy that himself. Call it peace of mind.

The agent sighed and casually pushed Tony's hand off of his shoulder. "I hear you Stark but it doesn't work that way." 

Now feeling slightly frustrated, Tony glared. "Look, I don't know what Steve told you but--"

"--the boy is Spider-man. We know.", the Agent finished. 

Fixing his features so that they remain neutral despite his surprise, Tony folded his hands in front of him and stood up a little taller. "Then you understand why I can't let you just have his DNA."

"We won't have it, Stark. No one will. We'll be destroying all of it."The man replied with a shrug of his shoulders before casually surveying the area. "This was nothing more than random drug bust, you know. It's unfortunate tha the entire building caught fire as it did.", he added with a sympathetic frown.

Slightly confused, Tony tried to follow the man's seemingly hollow gaze. "It's not...", he started before his words trailed off.

"Not yet, it isn't... but it will be. Don't worry so much. Go take care of your kid.", the man told him as he patted his shoulder and turned to walk away.

Tony was still unsure of allowing SHIELD to handle his kid's documentation but he let it go. There was clearly more going on within that agency than he understood at the moment but getting to the bottom of that was low on his priority list. Instead, he went to track down Steve. He needed to get word on May. How she was doing, what she knew and how much she was going to hate him when this was all over. Which he was almost certain would be a whole lot. He'd allowed her nephew to get kidnapped while standing directly beside him before being experimented on and reinjured. It really wasn't' looking good on his part. He just prayed she wouldn't rip the kid out of his life. He didn't know if he could handle that. The little shit had grown on him.

"How's May Steve?", Tony asked once he'd finally tracked the man down. "Kid was asking. I told him she was fine. Please tell me that she's actually fine."

Steve just smiled. "She's actually fine.", he said with a firm nod of the head. "I've kept her informed the whole time. She knows what's going on and is going to meet up back at the tower."

"Yay.", Tony sarcastically sighed out and Steve looked at him in sympathy. He wasn't sure why but for some reason that seemed to cause him to deflate even further.

"Tony... She's can't possibly be upset about this. The kid's a super-hero. Things are going to happen and we got him. We had his back the whole time. You had his back the whole time. It'll be okay."

He didn't agree but Tony nodded anyway before making his way back tot he ambulance that would be carrying Peter back to the tower's medical wing. He definitely wanted to ride with him. If nothing else but to give him a few more minutes with the kid before May inevitably banned him from ever seeing the kid again. By the time, Tony got back to the plane where he'd left Peter, they were already getting him ready for transport. He was no longer sleeping and looked... worried. "Hey, Buddy... You okay?", Tony asked once he got past the agents who were preparing to move the rolling bed he was on from the plane to the ambulance.

Peter shook his head and glanced upwards towards the nearly empty fluid bag essentially telling Tony everything he needed to know. The kid needed to piss. It made sense, they'd pumped an entire liter of the hydrating solution into him along with another few ounces of glucose. He was probably dying but afraid to say anything about it since everyone around him seemed to be n such a hurry. "Help me.", Peter strained so quietly that Tony couldn't hear it so much as he could read his lips from a distance. 

"I've got it, kiddo.", Tony said with a soft smile before turning towards the handful of rushing agents. "Hey! Clear out for a minute, will ya? I need to talk to my kid. Give me five minutes." The men gave him an uncertain look but moved along anyway and Tony was thankful. For Peter's sake, he'd really not wanted to have to elaborate on the situation. The second they were gone, Tony started searching the area for what he needed. He was starting to get frustrated when Bruce happened to walk in. 

"I thought they were moving Peter into the ambulance?", he asked looking between a very stressed out looking kid and Tony who was still tossing things around. "Is everything okay? They said you were talking to him."

Tony shook his head, never taking his eyes off of the shelf he was scanning. "He needs to take a leak. I'm trying to find the bottle thingy. The medical urinal. You have one of those in here right?", he hurriedly asked, thankful that the man had shown up when he did. Surely he would know where the correct supplies were. 

"Of course.", Bruce said easily before reaching towards the one drawer Tony hadn't looked in yet. "There's one right here."

"Great. Get out.", Tony clipped as he took the jug out of the man's hands, though he attempted to smile as he did so. He wasn't trying to be rude so much as he was trying to be quick. He could practically taste the kid's anxiety from where he stood. Then as Bruce made his exit, he crossed the room and gave the boy a once over before holding up the container "Can you uh... you know... handle this? Need me to do anything?"

"Hm-mm. I can do it. Just give it to me.", Peter said, taking the vessel and immediately bringing it under the sheet so that he could relieve himself. Sighing and shivering slightly as he did so. All the while, Tony had his back turned and tried not to pay attention to exactly how much pee was going into that bottle. Then, the moment his bladder was empty, Peter quickly closed the lid and gingerly handed the now extremely full urinal over to Tony's waiting hand. "Um... thanks.", he said sheepishly. It felt extremely weird to be handing a jug of his pee over to...well, anyone. 

"Jesus Christ.", Tony said in awe, the second he'd taken the container off of the boy's hands. The kid had been serious when he'd said he needed to go. Anymore and they would have needed a second container. He, however, dropped the commentary after that one statement, choosing instead to make an effort to get them back home. He wanted a shower and the kid desperately needed his leg to be set. "Okay. So, I'm going to get those guys back in here to move you, okay?"

Peter nodded his head and sighed. He was definitely ready to get away from their current location. Just know that he was still there was unsettling. He wanted nothing more than to be back in his room at the Tower... or his apartment... anywhere but there. He just hoped that where ever he was going it wasn't going to be alone. "Are you coming with me, Tony?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way, kid.", Tony said with a smile before calling out the door that the kid was good to go. 

The ride back to the tower was just long enough for Peter to start to feel a bit claustrophobic in the back of the ambulance. After the first thirty minutes, he'd started to get restless and by the end of the hour, he was having to close his eyes and take deep breaths while Tony talked to him about everything they were going to do in the lab once he was better. From there it was only another twenty minutes until he was freed from the too-small space and was able to breathe again. Which was good, since May was waiting just inside the medical wing doors ready to practically suffocate him with affection. 

"Oh my God! Peter! Thank God you're okay. Let me look at you, baby... Oh my God, I'm so glad that you're okay.", she said as he peppered his face with kisses as gently as she could so as not to hurt him. Then the moment she was satisfied with the amount of attention she'd given her nephew her she diverted to Tony, grabbing him tightly around the neck without a second thought.

Having been completely thrown off guard, Tony took a step back. He'd expected her to slap him not... hug him? "May? You're hugging me?", he asked in confusion which seemed to make her laugh. 

"Of course, I'm hugging you, you idiot. You got me, my baby, back.", she said without relenting her hold for even a moment.

"You mean you don't hate me?", Tony said as he carefully began to pat the woman's back in some sort of reciprocation. He was just getting to the point that he hugged Peter. Mostly because the kid was going to waller all over him anyway, he was clingy like that. May on the other hand... this was a first. "I was pretty sure you would hate me, seeing as he got kidnapped while literally within my reach."

"Tony. I'm not mad. I was terrified but never mad.", she said before pressing her nose into his shoulder as she began to cry. "What would have happened to him without you? _You're his back up_, without you _he'd still be there_.", she said, overcome with emotion. The man wasn't just a hero, he was her nephew's hero. The only family she had left was safe because of him.

Before Tony had a chance to say anything else, Bruce was clearing his throat behind them. "I hate to break this up guys, but I need to take Peter to set that leg...", he said, glancing towards Peter who seemed to have dozed back off. 

"It's fine Bruce.", Tony chuckled as he pulled away from May and ran his fingers across Peter's forehead. "Do what you need to do. Just fix my kid.", he murmured not really giving his words any real thought. His sole focus at the moment was getting Peter feeling better and Bruce could do that for him.

"Your kid?", May asked with her eyebrows raised not realizing that she'd sent Tony's head into overdrive as he tried to think of a way to explain that.

"Uh...", he said stupidly but May in all of her wisdom stepped in to save him from his misfiring brain. 

"It's fine, Tony. I can share as long as it's you I'm sharing him with.", she said with a giggle before leaning over to kiss, Peter's cheek just as Bruce made a move to roll him into the medical exam room. "He needs you. I'm glad you consider him yours."

One long hour later, Bruce returned to let both May and Tony know that Peter was all set with a brand new toe to thigh cast and was starting to wake up for the light sedation. May who had a few questions for Bruce waved Tony inside saying that she would meet them in there in a few minutes. Then, with a brief nod of his head, Tony entered the room, all smiles. "Hey, kid. Feeling any better?", Tony asked. Goodness knows he felt better. He's spent a good half of that last hour of waiting in a very hot shower after tracking down some of his own clothes.

Peter nodded and tried to strain his neck to see past where Tony was walking in the door. "Is May still here, Tony?"

"Yep. Want me to get her?", Tony asked assuming that was why Peter was asking but he was only half right. The kid needed to pee again and wanted to do that before May got in there. Apparently over two hours and another half of a bag of fluids later meant that the kid was more than ready for another quick break. Though he immediately noted that it didn't seem to be near as urgent this time. "Sure. Are we walking to the bathroom this time?", he asked already preparing himself for whichever option the boy requested.

Peter nodded his head with a small smile. "Yeah. Dr. Banner said that since my arm is better, I could use crutches but that I had to have supervision until I'm off the pain meds.", he said, thankful to be allowed to get out of bed. While the medical urinal was fine for an emergency, he would always choose a toilet over anything else. 

"Sounds fair.", Tony agreed, handing over the pair of crutches he saw already set up and leaning against the far wall. "Here you go. ...and I'll gab the IV pole.", he said before following the kid into the bathroom so that he could relieve himself. He was actually sort of impressed that he only had to reach out to steady him once the entire time and that had been on the way back. At that point, Peter seemed to be exhausted and that probably had more to do with it than the actual medication. 

Peter had just gotten settled back into the medical wing bed when May came walking in. "Hi there, sweetie. Back to square one with your leg, huh?"

"I guess.", peter replied miserably. It was going to be another three weeks minimum in a cast. That meant another three weeks of no Spider-manning. People were probably already wondering where he was. Which brought his thoughts back to the reason his leg was broken in the first place. "Hey, Tony? Did you guys ever figure out how that guy knew where we were?"

"We did.", Tony sighed out. That was how he'd spent the other half of the time that Peter was being treated. Talking to Steve who was still on the scene collecting evidence and sitting in on the interrogation. "Turns out that when he fought you the first time, he somehow managed to use one of his vials of weird DNA shit to link his mind to yours or something black magic-y like that. Apparently he could get flashes of your thoughts. Just enough to lead him to us and relieve that Romanov was a spy."

"Like Voldemort?", Peter asked with his eyes going wide as May giggled in the background.

"Who?", Tony asked in confusion. looking between Peter who was still somewhat shocked and May who looked oddly delighted. 

"Never mind.", Peter replied with a shake of his head. He'd sort of forgotten that fantasy was not his mentor's favorite thing. "We can watch the movies later."

"Sure...", Tony said skeptically, still watching May as she smiled between the two of them.

However, Peter no longer looked amused. He's gone from smiling to his brow being wrinkled up with concern. "What about the guy. Is he... I mean did I..."

"--You didn't kill him.", Tony cut in, eager to ease the kid's mind. He wasn't going to tell him that the guy was going to end up dead either way but he definitely wanted to make sure the boy didn't feel responsible. It would eat him alive and he didn't want that. It should have never even come to that. He should have been the one who fired that gun. Not Peter but he didn't say any of that. He just pressed forward with what he needed to say. "SHEILD took him in for questioning. They'll make sure he never bothers you or anyone else again. Your secret is safe."

"Good.", Peter said with a sigh, glad to hear that he'd not killed anyone. Self-defense or not, he didn't want that on his conscience. Then another deep breath later he was looking at his aunt rather than Tony. "Aunt May? Am I going to be staying with Tony again?"

Not realizing what Peter was really asking, May cringed. She still had to work and Peter still needed someone to make sure he didn't overextend himself or fall over while he was up and about while on pain meds. "For a little while, if it's okay with you. Just until you're able to get around without constant supervision. I'm sorry I can't take off more time, baby."

"No.", Peter quickly corrected. He'd not meant to make her feel bad. He just sort of wondered where he would be sleeping that night. Either home was good to him as long as Aunt May came by to visit as she had been. "It's fine. I love staying here. I, I love Tony.", he added quietly as he fidgeted with the corner of the sheet.

Not giving a singular shit that, May was smiling fondly at him he sighed and reached over to place his hand on Peter's ever so slightly pinkening cheek. "I love you too, Buddy."

May no longer able to hold herself back smiled widely and crossed the room to place a hand on Tony's back and Peter's arm. "Well, I love both of you.", she said with so much honestly that Tony was forced to believe her. 

"One big happy family, huh?", he asked with mirth causing Peter to laugh.

"This is like the weirdest family ever and I'm telling you, I wouldn't want it any other way.", Peter replied and Tony had to agree. It was definitely a weird little mix-matched family but as the kid had said. He wouldn't want it any other way.


End file.
